#just have some last minute shopping tomorrow and then i am bundling up and settling in to ride it all out | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

biggest-stupidhead · 4 years ago

Text

Bad Timing (Levi x reader) Part 6

Summary: How do you tell your friends that you’re falling for your big brother’s best friend?

Word Count: 5.8K

Warnings: none? (let me know if I missed something pls)

November had seamlessly slipped into December, your small town was now decorated with wreathes of evergreen boughs instead of dried corn husks. A large Christmas tree had been set up in the small park off of main street, a crowd of enthusiastic citizens milling about to decorate the large evergreen. You turned your attention back to the hardware store where your older brother was purchasing a roll of wrapping paper and an armful of Christmas lights. Erwin thanked the cashier and pushed out of the store with his arms full of paper bags. You wordlessly relieved him of two of the bags, a smile on your face.

You had to admit, the town was doused in an ethereal winter glow, it was a Saturday afternoon and main street was bustling. The small coffee shop was decked out in Christmas decorations and people were flocking to get a cup of their holiday specials. The small boutiques were advertising the latest fashions, the hardware store was busier than usual, and the small breakfast joint was packed with families enjoying a quiet breakfast. The sidewalks were damp with melted snow, chunks of sidewalk salt crunching underfoot as you made your way to Erwin's minivan that was parked down the street.

"So movie night tonight..." Erwin cleared his throat and glanced down at you.

"Yeah, nothing too special just the usual crew." you shrugged indifferently.

"I figured as much." the blonde sighed as he fumbled for his keys in his pocket.

"Is there a problem?" you asked, a bit nervous that Erwin would change his mind and tell you that you couldn't host the movie night that you had planned.

"No, no of course not, I was just wondering if you were planning on seeing Levi off with Mom and I tomorrow morning." he hummed thoughtfully as you loaded the bags into the trunk of the van.

"I'll be there." you grunted as you settled into the front seat. Erwin nodded, pleased with your response and started the car.

When you arrived at your house you were surprised to see that Levi and Hange were both present. A glance at your brother told you that he also was not expecting them to be there either. You both made quick work of bringing in the groceries, you smiled softly at the sight of your mother and Hange fussing over some garland that you draped over the kitchen cabinets as decoration. Levi was hunched over the sink with his sleeves of his chunky knit sweater rolled up as he scrubbed relentlessly at a pan. Erwin bushed past you and into the living room to light the fireplace, you bit your lip to conceal a giggle as Hange got tangled in the itchy garland. Your mom immediately set to work on untangling her and you turned to put away the goods that you and Erwin had acquired.

Erwin waltzed back into the kitchen and set to work on drying the dishes that Levi had already washed, the two of them falling into an easy rhythm. You took the dried dishes and began to put them away, reveling in the domestic environment. You knew that this wouldn't last much longer, they were going to school, starting their lives. Instead of dwelling on the thought you decided to just enjoy the little time that you had left with them.

"Aw that looks amazing! Good work Hange!" your mom praised the brunette as she finished tacking up the garland over the cabinets.

"Thanks Angie!" Hange beamed, your mom chuckled and took the hammer and remaining nails from her to return to their rightful places. Hange turned to see the three of you finishing up the last of the dishes.

"Look at you guys getting along." she cooed, clutching her hands over the sleek black turtleneck that she wore tucked into her bright yellow checkered pants.

"Shut up and go grab me a fresh rag." Levi grunted as he shoved the dirty rag into Hange's hands. She turned and obediently made her way down the hall to the laundry room to fetch a fresh rag for Levi to wipe down the counters.

"What's Kenny planning on doing this year without you home?" Erwin prodded, as he watched Levi scrape a skeptical finger over the countertop.

"Gamble, drink himself to death, hell if I know." Levi scoffed as he wiped his hand off on a hand towel and stooped down to pull out the all purpose cleaner from under the sink.

"Is that what he usually does?" you asked carefully, Levi paused a thoughtful look passing over his usually stoic mien.

"I guess." Levi shrugged, his face falling back into one of indifference. You hummed thoughtfully, nobody deserved to spend Christmas alone, not even Levi's bum of an uncle. Hange jogged back into the kitchen sliding on the clean floors due to her thick cabin socks. She held the clean rag out proudly for Levi who then doused it with cleaner and began scrubbing the counters. Your mom returned from the garage, her cheeks flushed from the cold.

"Levi sweetie what have I told you about cleaning? You really don't have to do that." she scolded, Levi frowned but continued to wipe down the counters while Erwin busied himself with inspecting the new LED lights that he had purchased. Your mother reached up and ruffled Erwins hair affectionately as she passed and made her way towards the stairs. Hange chuckled and settled into one of the stools at the island.

"When will your buddies be arriving?" she hummed, a smirk curling onto her lips as she perched her chin on her intertwined fingers. You pursed your lips and glanced at the clock over the stove, it was only three o'clock, they shouldn't arrive until six.

"Sometime around six." you reported, pulling a holiday magazine out of the stack in the middle of the island. You idly flipped through the pages, ignoring the way Hange's glasses glinted in the light as she studied you thoughtfully. She inhaled, as if she were about to speak, but you quickly shut the tabloid and threw it back onto the pile and stood.

"Welp better go set things up." you stretched dramatically and before Hange or anyone else could get in another word you fled down stairs. Thankfully you had taken the time the night prior to clean out the basement and pull out decorations. You stacked piles of seasonal quilts and other knit blankets about on the couch and some on the floor as well. You lit some seasonal candles in the basement restroom and one on the T.V stand.

You had already set up a tangle of white LED lights at the base of the TV and some other small snowmen figurines as well as a small Christmas tree in the back corner for the group to decorate and place white elephant gifts beneath. The tree was already bundled up with rainbow lights and strands of shimmery tinsel. You deemed the basement as satisfactory and turned to begin preparing snacks and other treats.

You weren't surprised to find Hange and Levi at each others throats, Hange had a fistful of Levi's sweater, and he had her by the ponytail. Erwin was still engrossed by the lights as he attempted to untangle them, seemingly unbothered by his friends. You carefully stepped over the mess of lights and began by preheating the oven, you planned on making frozen pizzas and some of those cheap Pillsbury dough boy sugar cookies that you bought during the holidays.

"Admit it!" Hange snarled as she jostled Levi.

"You're being overdramatic four eyes." Levi hissed as she shook him relentlessly.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

You rolled your eyes and did your best to ignore them. Their relationship never ceased to confuse you, the pair seemed to constantly be in a state of turmoil. One day they were perfectly content with each other, but the next they would be at each others throats as they were now. It gave you whiplash, especially on days when they flipped between these two states every few minutes. Realistically you knew that it was Hange who added the turmoil to their relationship, she was very chaotic by nature. You originally figured that Levi tolerated Hange's presence because Erwin and her were dating, but now that you had gotten to see the two of them interact you knew better. Somewhere deep down you knew Levi cared about the manic young scientist, and Hange openly voiced her affections for Levi.

You smiled at the sound of the two of them tussling, their staggering steps receding into the living room where they would have more room to rough one another up. You heard a body slam to the ground, which is when you turned to see Levi glaring down at Hange who was now sprawled out on the hardwood floor. Erwin frowned at his friends disapproval evident on his features. When he had first introduced the pair all they ever did was fight, but that was when they were younger, now he expected better from them. Also he was surprised that Hange still even attempted to best Levi in a fight, the raven haired male was surprisingly strong and had experience under his belt.

Hange hauled herself onto her feet as Levi stalked back towards the kitchen, his sweater now stretched out around the neck where Hange had tugged on the material. Just as he was about the sit down, Hange snagged him around the neck and locked him into a choke hold, a victorious bout of laughter leaving her lips as she dragged him back into the living room. Levi's socked feet attempted in vain to slow down the persistent brunette as she drug him backwards. You slid the pizza in the oven and turned to pull out the popcorn so that it would be ready for when the others arrived. Erwin scoffed and gathered the lights, which were now free of tangles and hauled them outside into the waning light.

You frowned after him, hoping that he didn't plan to put them up in the dark. Turning your attention back to the brawl in the living room you were impressed to see that Hange still had the upper hand. Levi had a hand placed on her jaw as he tried to push her face away from his, the two of them were on the ground, Hange underneath Levi who was trapped in a choke hold with Hange's legs wrapped around his waist. Levi snarled as he thrashed in Hange's hold, his sweater riding up as he struggled. Hange was laughing her head off, finally releasing Levi in favor of clutching her stomach as her laughter grew more intense. Levi seethed as he took a few healthy steps away from Hange and ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to straighten it. Hange stood up and wiped a tear from her eye before turning to face Levi.

"But seriously, you should do it." Hange's tone turned serious as she addressed Levi. He scoffed and curled his lip in disgust.

"Probably more trouble than it's worth." he retorted.

"Just give it a shot." Hange begged, her hands clasped together over her chest.

"I'll think about it." Levi snorted, he stalked out of the living room and back into the kitchen, his eyes sweeping over the room, clearly searching for Erwin.

"Outside." you jabbed a thumb in the direction of the front door, he said nothing as he trudged past. You knew better than to ask what they had been arguing about, they always just brushed you off. So instead you returned your focus on preparing for your movie marathon. You could already see a bruise forming on Hange's jaw from here Levi's fingers hand attempted to pry her off of him. You flinched, recalling his iron grip, you knew how it felt to be manhandled by him.

"So...what are you guys doing tonight?" you questioned casually as you pulled the cookies from the oven. Your voice derailed Hange's train of thought, she whipper her head around and pursed her lips as she considered your question.

"Hm, I guess whatever Levi wants since it is his last night in the states for a whole month." she mused, rubbing her hand along her tender jaw. You nodded, this probably meant nothing, Levi wasn't much of an extrovert so it made sense that he wouldn't want many people present except for those he considered dearest to him to see him off.

"Well if you guys want you could join us, they won't be staying late." you were quick to tack on the last part, knowing that Levi probably wasn't ecstatic to spend his last night with underclassmen.

"I'll see what I can do." Hange winked before retreating towards the stairs and jogging up them, presumably to change into comfier clothes. You leaned against the counter and sighed heavily, things were changing and you hated it. You knew that at sooner or later your brother would go off and begin his life, but you did not expect it to come so quickly. You also didn't expect to grow so fond of his friends. Before you could totally bum yourself out your phone vibrated, startling you.

"Hello?" you asked, not bothering to check the caller id.

"(Y/n)?" Connie's familiar upbeat voice brought you back to earth.

"Yeah what's up?" you chuckled as you wedged your phone between your ear and shoulder to slide the pizza into the oven.

"I just wanted to let ya know that Sasha and I are on our way and we are bringing some snacks just like you asked!" he boasted, you could practically see the swell of his chest and the smug smirk on his lips as he spoke.

"Great! How far away are you?" you asked as you shut the oven.

"About five minutes." he affirmed.

"I'll see you soon." you hummed as you set the timer on the oven.

"Yep!" he beamed, after a moment you heard the familiar beep signaling that the call had been ended. You dropped your phone back onto the counter and glanced out the window behind the sink. The sun had began to sink below the trees, and still Erwin and Levi were outside, you hoped that they were not trying to tack up the lights. With a heavy sigh you trudged through the front of the house and slipped on a pair of Erwin's moccasins and pushed through the front door. You wrapped your arms around your chest and frowned when you didn't see the pair anywhere on the front yard. You cupped your hands over your mouth and inhaled sharply.

"Erwin!" you yelled, your voice echoing off the barren trees and the serene snowy scene. No response. Just as you were about to call again, a huge glob of snow fell off the roof right on to your head. You shrieked and turned to see Levi standing on the roof, the toes of his boot sticking over the newly uncovered patch of your roof. You glared up at him as you brushed the snow off of your shirt and shivered.

"Quit shouting." was all he said before turning and stalking back out of your line of sight.

"Are you guys almost finished? It's getting dark and I don't want to spend the night in the hospital." you whined as you took a few steps back to get a better view of the roof. You heard the distant sound of a hammer, but no response to your question. You rolled your eyes and took yet another step back. This time you could see Erwin hunched over the edge of the roof, Levi had returned to his side to hold him by his belt as he stood on the slippery surface. Not the smartest or safest way to hang up lights but hey if it works it works. After a few more swings Erwin leaned back on his haunches to admire his work, with a satisfied nod the two grabbed the remaining nails and began their descent.

"Hold that ladder for us would ya (Y/n)?" Erwin hollered down and pointed a finger to the old metal ladder that was perched against the side of the house. You nodded and waded through the snow to stabilize the ladder for the two of them to climb down. You only relaxed when both of them were safely on the ground, the three of you quickly gathered all of the tools that they used and folded the ladder back up before trudging through the snow to the side door that led into the garage. You stored all of the items and filed into the door that led into the kitchen, only to find Sasha and Connie milling about with Hange and your mother.

The kitchen was warm due to the heat of the oven and all of the people in the room. You tugged at the neck of your crewneck sweat shirt, your eyes drifted to where Connie was struggling to open a candy cane. Sasha was ripping open a bag of popcorn to place int the microwave. A short knock on the door alerted you that someone else had arrived, just as you rounded the corner to let in your guests, the door opened and Jean poked his head in.

"Hey!" he exclaimed as he pushed the rest of the way in, a paper bag cradled in the crook of his elbow.

"Hey, come on in!" you waved him in, a smile gracing your lips at the sight of Marco close behind him, a stack of old CDs in his grasp.

"Marco! I'm so glad you could make it." you gushed as you went to relieve Jean of the bag in his arms. Marco smiled a bit bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah me too." he blushed, the red tint obscuring his freckled cheeks.

"Well you can go ahead and take those to the basement, Jean can you show him?" you asked as the three of you entered the chaotic kitchen. Jean nodded and grabbed Marco's bicep to steer him towards the basement, before you knew it the pair had disappeared down the stairs.

Your mom had given Connie a hand and opened his candy for him, and now he was sucking on the peppermint candy, the end of it gradually forming a point. Sasha was listening to Hange as she gestured wildly, something about the amount of chemicals and various pesticides used to grow corn. Levi was surprisingly still in the crowded kitchen, although it seemed he was purely there to supervise, Erwin was inspecting Hange and your mother's handy-work with the garland. Just as you managed to wedge yourself between Hange and Sasha to reach the oven, the sound of the doorbell made Sasha jump and push you back.

"I'll get it!" she cried out before making a break for the foyer and escaping Hange's rant. You rolled your eyes and pulled the pizza out of the oven. Hange bounced around the kitchen, stopping in front of Erwin, he pulled her into his embrace by her hips, Levi rolled his eyes before stalking away from the pair. He padded through the kitchen and into the living room where he dropped onto the sofa. You pursed your lips, the thought of joining him crossed your mind but before you could act on it Jean had you by your shoulders and was steering you towards the basement to follow the crowd downstairs.

You allowed him to guide you downstairs along with the others, Connie and Sasha were already in the basement, running circles around the couch chasing one another. Connie had Sasha on the run, periodically jabbing his sharpened candy cane at her whenever he got close enough. You cracked a smile at the pair as the others moved to sit on the couch, you took a moment to appreciate Mikasa's outfit, she had favored a festive red sweater that had a raindeer sewn onto the front instead of her usual goth get up. Eren had also worn a forrest green sweater with a Christmas tree, Armin wore a sky blue sweater with a cheeky snowman on the front. You beamed at their choices, all of them very fitting, Jean and Marco wore a matching set with two elves on the front of their green sweaters. Connie and Sasha also wore sweaters, Connie's had Rudolf with a nose that actually lit up while Sasha wore a white sweater with a turkey on the front.

Connie finally managed to catch Sasha, holding her in a chokehold and dragging her over to the sofa. Marco dropped down next to Armin and the two began to sift through the options, Mikasa watched the two converse while keeping an eye on Eren who was poking fun at Jean's sweater. You decided to let the pair work it out on their own for once and dropped down next to Mikasa. Marco had managed to bring quite the variety of movies, he had classics like Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, A Christmas Story, Santa Clause, Home Alone, and more. You unanimously decided that A Christmas Story would be the perfect start, so you popped the disk in and all settled into your seats. Sasha and Connie had to sit on the ground, you had learned the hard way that they were messy eaters and it was much easier to clean the floor than the crevices in the couch. The movies went by quickly, and before long it was already 12 am, you finished the last few minutes before everyone began to fold blankets and pick up the dishes that they had used. You all climbed the stairs and dropped the dishes in the sink and the trash in the bin, you thanked them for coming and wished them safe travels as they all filed out the door. Jean lingered for a moment, a hand on your hip as the two of you stood on the threshold. The others had long since climbed into their cars, it was only Marco who was waiting for Jean.

"Thanks again for hosting tonight." Jean smirked as he pulled you flush against his chest, the scratchy sweater tickled your nose as you rested your head against him.

"It's really not that big of a deal, I like having all you guys over." you whispered against his chest as he rubbed a hand up and down the curve of your back. You were surprised when a flurry of butterflies fluttered in your stomach at his ministrations. His hand slid up your back and came to rest splayed between your shoulder blades for a moment before continuing to slide up and into your hair. Your heart pounded in your ears as he kept his steady gaze on your face, with a gentle tug he pulled your head back to look up at him. You blinked rapidly, as he slowly leaned in until his breath fanned across your lips.

"May I kiss you?" he murmured, his tongue flicking our over his bottom lip as he awaited your answer.

"Y-You may." you stuttered, that was all he needed. He closed the small gap and pressed his lips against your own, taking your bottom lip into his mouth and sucking. You kissed him back timidly, not quite sure how you felt about this interaction. It seemed as if the kiss lasted for hours, when in reality it was probably only about two minutes. Marco laid on the horn of Jean's car, startling the two of you. Jean smiled sheepishly at you before turning and jogging down the steps and over to his car. He turned and waved at you, even going as far as winking before climbing into his car and starting the engine. You couldn't stop your wandering fingers from tracing your wet lower lip as he drove off, he wasn't a half bad kisser. You stepped back into the foyer and closed the door and locked up. The house was quite, but you could hear Hange laughing upstairs, and your mom's TV in her room playing Grey's Anatomy. Since the others had been kind enough to aid you in cleaning up most of the mess, you decided to go get changed into pajamas. You tiptoed up the stairs and past Erwin's room, you could hear Hange, Levi, and Erwin behind the door, they seemed to be bickering as per usual.

You quickly threw on a sweatshirt and a pair of running shorts before wandering back to Erwin's door and rapping on the wood with the back of your knuckles. The voices fell quiet before Erwin pulled the door open just enough to peek through the crack, you frowned at him skeptically. He relaxed when he realized that it was only you and pulled the door open to allow you inside. Erwin's room was like most athletic teen males, messy. His desk was cluttered with papers and pens and the odd textbook. His bed was messed up, Hange was splayed across the comforter watching Levi scroll through his phone. The LED lights in Erwin's room were rotating through multiple colors, the floor was surprisingly clean, probably because Levi was in the room. Your eyes fell on his large beanbag that rested in its usual corner and you moved to fall onto the familiar seat but before you could collapse Hange called out to you.

"(Y/n)! come lay with me." she yawned as she beckoned you over. You sighed but decided to indulge her, you frowned at the small amount of space between her and Levi and opted for the foot of the bed. Erwin dropped down into his desk chair and hunched over his homework, seemingly uninterested in hanging out with you just yet. You sank down onto the foot of Erwin's queen sized bed, Hange frowned and patted the space between her and Levi. You grimaced but still crawled up the bed and pressed your self to Hange to avoid entering Levi's bubble. Hange draped her arm over your waist as you settled your back against her chest.

"Leviiiii let us see" Hange cooed, reaching to pull Levi's elbow so you could see his phone screen. Levi frowned but obliged, angling his wrist so all three of you could see his screen. He was on tiktok, watching a deep cleaning video. His for you page followed the trend of the first video, reviews on cleaning products, amazon reviews and unboxings, some aesthetic videos, mostly boring things. Before you knew it Hange's head slumped down onto your shoulder and you felt her steady breath on your skin, her arm that had been holding you in her iron grip had also gone slack. Levi glanced at the two of you and tried to engrave the image in his mind, the crushing reality of leaving his friends was beginning to sink in. Anyone else would think that he would be happy to leave this bumpkin town for Paris, but they would be wrong. His phone buzzed in his hand, forcing him to tear his gaze off of the two of you. He blinked at the banner that had appeared at the top of his screen, an unknown number.

"Have a safe trip tomorrow big bro! ❤️(red heart emoji)" Levi allowed the corner of his mouth to curl upwards as he read the message. However it was short lived when he realized that it was around 7am in Paris, what on earth was she doing up? He rolled his eyes and opened the message to shoot her a reply:

"Go back to sleep brat it's a Saturday." he shut his phone off as soon as the message went through, feeling a bit better about his impending departure knowing that his sister was waiting for him. He hadn't seen them in almost 7 years now, he had left France with his uncle when he was only 11 years old when his uncle had gotten a new job. He was only able to return now because he had spent the last three years working odd jobs to save up enough cash to purchase a round trip to France for the holidays.

"Penny for your thoughts?" your muffled voice brought Levi back to the present. He scoffed, glancing down he noted that your eyes were closed and your face pressed into the pillows. He spared another glance to your brother who was now typing furiously on his laptop with a pair of cheap headphones pushed deep into his ears.

"Well?" you pressed, cracking an eye open to gauge his reaction.

"There's nothing to share." he huffed, sinking deeper into Erwin's bed dejectedly.

"So you admit that your head is filled with nothing but elevator music?" you jabbed, a sleepy smirk on your lips. Levi's nose scrunched at the comment, he rolled over onto his side, propping his head on his hand as he glared daggers down at you.

"At least tell me what song is playing in there." you giggled, reaching a hand up to tap you index finger on his temple. He blinked slowly as he allowed you to tease him, knowing that this would be the last time you would get the chance for a whole month. You frowned when he said nothing still and sighed heavily.

"You really won't tell me?" you pursed your lips when Levi's lip twitched, threatening to curl upwards. So that's how it's going to be.

"I was thinking about you." Levi professed, his tone surprisingly tender. Your eyes widened, now you were awake, you felt hot embarrassment rush up your neck and cover your cheeks.

"W-What?" you stammered, the confidence that had flowed so freely through your actions earlier long forgotten.

"You heard me."

"Could you be more specific?"

"Eh" Levi shrugged and rolled over so his back was to you. Astonished, you sat frozen still being crushed under a sleeping Hange. You sat up as much as you could to peek at Erwin, yup he was still grinding on that Economy project. Carefully you shrugged Hange's arm off of your waist and rolled out from under her head. She only snorted and rolled so her back was to you. You sat up fully and grabbed Levi's upper arm to shake him, after a few seconds of jostling, he rolled over and opened his mouth to hand you a snarky comment. His eyes widened slightly to see your finger pressed firmly against your lips. You jerked your head towards the door before you threw your legs over Levi's and slid off the bed and quietly let yourself out of the room. Levi frowned as he watched you leave, a bit confused on what was about to happen. Did you want him to fuck you? Maybe, most likely not but a guy can dream.

He frowned at Erwin who was totally engrossed in his work, even mumbling incoherently to himself as he typed. Perfect timing, he padded quietly across the room and slid out into the dark hallway, a purple glow illuminating the hall as he opened the door. You turned and gave Levi a small smile, but just as he was about to demand why you had summoned him you turned and slunk down the stairs. Now he was officially stumped, still he followed you down into the empty kitchen, you didn't stop there though, you continued down the stairs.Casting a brief glance over your shoulder to make sure that he was following you. Once you had reached the basement you dropped dramatically onto the couch and leaned back into the cushions.

"So are you excited to leave tomorrow?" you asked, turning your sleepy gaze to him as he settled down onto the cushions next to you.

"You could say that." he shrugged as he threw an arm over the back of the couch and tilted his head to gauge your reaction.

"I would be too, I mean those French girls must be smoking hot." you chuckled as you rolled to your side to face him, a wry smile on your lips. Levi scoffed and averted his gaze, once you had stopped giggling you sighed contently.

"It's getting late." you groaned as you glanced at your phone. Levi hummed in agreement as he watched you avoid his gaze.

"Why did you drag me down here?" Levi asked outright, you licked your lips as you attempted to put your feelings into words. But how could you do that when you didn't even know how to feel.

"I guess I just wanted to, I don't know have a moment with you before you leave." you muttered your eyes trained on your hands as you toyed with a ring on your finger. Levi said nothing as he watched you fidget.

"Well here we are." his cold eyes were locked on you as you turned to shoot him a glare.

"I know." you replied meekly, desperately wanting him to ease the awkward atmosphere, but you knew Levi and he wasn't very good at breaking the ice. So the two of you sat in silence for a moment, just staring at each other.

"Even though you're a massive dick, I'm going to miss you." you broke the thick silence.

"Quit being so dramatic, I'll be gone for a month not a year." Levi rolled his eyes and let his arm fall from the back of the couch to drape over your shoulders. You winced, surprised by his sudden action. He tightened his grip and pulled you into his side, his face still void of emotion.

"It's not like that, I'll just miss you cleaning my house for me. Now I'm going to have to pick up the slack." you joked, a playful smile spreading across your face, but the happiness didn't quite seem to reach your eyes. This didn't escape Levi's watchful gaze, instead of commenting on your obvious uncertainty Levi only pulled you closer to him.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll just be cleaning up after Isabel and Farlan." he spoke softly, his face still void of any expression in particular. You pursed your lips and nodded thoughtfully, you wondered if one day you would get the pleasure of meeting the pair. When you said nothing Levi tapped his finger against your bicep and inhaled sharply.

"Are you jealous?"

"Ha as if." you scoffed, throwing him a playful glance as you elbowed him sharply in his ribs. His lip quirked upwards, if you hadn't been paying attention you would have missed his small smile.Your chest swelled with pride, it was rare for someone to say something worthy of Levi smiling about, it was only recently that you had noticed that you had been able to coax a few brief smiles onto his face.

You wondered if you would be able to still make him smile when he comes back.

179 notes · View notes

writerwrites · 4 years ago

Text

Yuánfèn | 04

Ch. 4: La Douleur Exquise: “The pain of still caring for someone that you know you can never have.”

Summary: When you’ve lost everything and try to run away from your problems, you keep finding a way back to the one person who completely understands. Can you make another person happy with a broken heart?

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader Chapter Word Count: 3.7k Chapter Warnings: Slow burn, grief, light cursing, light angst

Series Masterlist | Series Playlist | Complete Masterlist

I’m not going to cross a line. Steve said it to himself every morning in Spain, every time he looked in the mirror in the bathroom or caught himself staring at all the pictures he’d stayed to help you scan. Even as he carried a handful of boxes you were willing to pack back to the Quinjet he kept on saying it over and over in his head. Then, back to you and the words would fade to the back of his mind. At the slightest glance across a room, the hint of a smile on your lips when a memory brought happiness, and the way you clung to him so tightly when a memory brought pain. Just another day, she still needs you. She shouldn’t have to do this alone. A week later and a day became days and then he decided he would leave when the team called him for extraction.

With a book in hand, Steve climbed into the bed while you took a shower, donning his last clean undershirt and the same sweatpants he wore the night before. He was about to make a joke about the bed smelling like them and soon dirty laundry when you spoke first, saying just his name. His eyes were on the book, a Spanish translation of Homer’s Odyssey, flipping through the pages to find his spot when his clear blue eyes looked up and met yours, soft with a hint of something you couldn’t read. Wrapping your arms around yourself you stood at the edge of the bed, digging your nails into your arms. “I think I want to go home tomorrow. Thinking about what you said, about it being a part of what I have left of my family… You’re right, that I could keep this place and it wouldn’t be a financial burden if I put it on AirBnB or something similar.” Steve reached out in silence to comfort you as you spoke, doing his best to respectfully keep his eyes on yours and not the shirt and leggings that clung to your damp skin. “I emailed the lawyer about what I would need to do to make that happen and he said he’d take care of it.”

Your hand slipped into his, giving his fingers a gentle squeeze as Steve ghosted his thumb across your knuckles. “Even if it’s just to buy a little more time for a big decision, I think that’s a good choice.” He watched you, those gears turning like your mind and emotions needed to catch up to your surroundings, always in two places at once. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

Slowly, you let go of his hand and climbed onto the bed, but you didn’t immediately lay down. “My hair’s still a little wet. You’ll freeze.”

“I’m a lot tougher than I look.” Steve laughed, thinking about all the times your head had tilted just a little to the side as you looked up to him and said that he was full of surprises, wondering if you were about to say it again. You seemed to be mulling it over and he found himself eager to put the book down and pull you into that usual position where you somehow managed to fit perfectly into the curve of his arm and his side. “C’mon, let’s get some sleep. I promise I won’t melt.”

The way you bit your lip as you cautiously closed the space between the two of you and curled into his chest as you had every night made Steve’s heart race. Your voice was a soft whisper of acknowledgment before going quiet again, “The Wizard of Oz.” Somehow, knowing it was the last time perhaps, you hesitated to let yourself immediately give in to the exhaustion in your bones. He noticed it, the little scrunch of your nose and the way you fought back a yawn as you hummed out his name to get his attention from behind the book one more time, “Steve.”

He smiled as he looked down at you but his eyebrows furrowed in surprise, just a little, when you hesitated to speak again, so he tried to coax it out of you, “Comfy?”

With a nod the yawn finally escaped you with the question you’d been holding back, “Could you read it aloud until I fall asleep?”

It wasn’t what he’d expected you to say and he hesitated, “You sure? I don’t want to butcher the language and you take offense.”

“I’m tougher than I look.” It was said in such a teasing tone, but you couldn’t bring yourself to look at him, cheeks pink with embarrassment. The pair of you held each other in silence for a moment, a mixture of identical thoughts and emotions. If this was the last night together, was this an unceremonious way to end it? Was this banter, flirting, or a bit of both?

His fingers started drawing their way up and down your back as he broke the silence and began to read aloud, slowly processing the foreign language and what was happening in the story. A part of him thought about the journey home tomorrow and what both of you would be like when you were back in the familiar setting of New York. He thought about you alone with your plants and fish in your small apartment, a few boxes commemorating what had been his first real pocket of happiness since he came out of the ice. “How am I going to fall asleep without you when we’re back in the city?”

The question had passed his lips before he could stop himself, his own tired voice deep and raspy with anxiety he didn’t realize he was harboring until that moment. Steve’s muscles went tight, book unmoving from his face as he frantically tried to find the sentence he’d just read aloud. Then, just as his panic was building, you did something you’d never done before; your hand released the bundle of his shirt and brushed over the muscles of his stomach and sides. Taking a cautious breath he let himself pay attention to the noises of the room and the house. Your pulse and breathing were steady, you’d once again fallen fast asleep against him, and for now, the question was left unanswered.

It shouldn’t have surprised you that Tony was the last person to show up for the scheduled check in once you were settled back in at work. He made sure to push it back and reschedule until it was about ten minutes before you were about to leave. Your head was in a fog, three nights back and you hadn’t been able to sleep. The exhaustion to caffeine ratio was starting to get precarious and you felt almost certain that you would finally fall asleep when you got home this time, regardless of the racing thoughts that seemed to start up just as your head hit the pillow.

Unceremoniously entering the office without a single knock, the billionaire sat on the arm of the loveseat that drank in the light from the window. It was a cozy piece of furniture you’d insisted on and it looked wholly out of place in the Tower with your postcard worthy view of the city. You looked up from your desk, tablet already ready. “Everything sorted out in Spain, Doc?” He asked with a knowing quirk of an eyebrow, but Tony didn’t give you a chance to answer. His hands were clasped in his lap like he was about to play shrink himself and he let out a huff to begin. “I know you left worried about me but don’t be. I’m perfectly fine, better than fine actually.” Your mouth bobbed open to protest, but he waved you off and kept talking. “I’m going to prove it to you too. We’re having a little celebration tonight, just to celebrate the return of our team's favorite medical professional and a successful mission.” You didn’t need to ask if you’d have a say or if small really meant small, not that you needed to. He was up and headed out the door before you could even remark that parties to drink one’s way through a mental health crisis wasn’t exactly convincing. “See you at eight!”

You were half-tempted to shout for him to come back or you’d call Pepper, but his voice echoed from the hallway at the next person he was telling about the party and you shook your head. There truly was no point in bickering with Tony. He was the unrelenting sort that followed through on whatever he set his mind to regardless of the opinions of others, except for Pepper. JARVIS was already talking to you about adding the event to your schedule and chattering about traffic calculations and nearby shops to buy appropriate attire and makeup for the event. In a huff you waved off the voice of the A.I. with a quick, “Thanks, JARVIS.”

It was five minutes to eight when you heard the elevator chime on your abandoned level of the Tower. As you looked at your reflection in the full length mirror in your office, leaning this way and that in the newly purchased cocktail dress that felt fitting for a cool May evening in New York City, you really took a chance to admire the simple but elegant dress in your favorite color. Yet, with every approaching footstep, you worried it was not glamorous or form fitting enough for a Stark Industries event, and you found yourself tempted to put on the dirty scrubs and run home. With those intrusive thoughts, you realized that no Avengers lie in any of the rooms needing care and immediately your chest tightened anticipating the worst as you clutched the closed tube of mascara in your right hand like it was a knife. Then you heard his voice, “Y’know, in the military they taught us that if you’re on time you’re late.” Steve tapped lightly on the door and waved his hand in. “May I come in?”

Chucking the makeup at your purse that sat open with your scrubs on the couch, you tried to act natural despite being all too aware of this being the first time the Avenger you were harboring a slight crush on, albeit one you weren’t ready to admit to yourself, would see you in a full face of makeup. Your rattled nerves and confused emotions left you stammering along to the cadence of your rapid pulse. “Sure, yeah, of course.”

He spun in gracefully, making you realize he’d had his back to the door just in case you weren’t decent. His mouth fell open and you realized yours had too. The blue button up made it impossible to glance at him and not look right into his bright blue eyes. Immediately, you felt like you were back in Mallorca, staring at him across a dinner table, blue skies and blue water bringing you a pocket of peace in the sadness that had threatened to consume you. Before you could get lost in the not-so-distant memory, Steve broke the silence. “That dress didn’t make it to Mallorca.”

“It’s new. I didn’t think I really had anything appropriate, but I’ve also never been invited to one of these things before.” It was true, in three years Tony had never acknowledged you in the same way he praised Dr. Banner or Dr. Cho, not that you wanted that kind of recognition. “I’m hoping it’s under the radar enough where I won’t stick out.”

“You two ready to go in there?” A masculine, vaguely familiar voice called from the hall just before Steve could protest- or at least it seemed like he was going to.

Steve nodded toward the door and you followed, only to find Sam Wilson in the hall. “As happy as I am to see you again, Sam, I think this is a sign that Tony really downplayed the size of the get together tonight.”

“Y’think?” Sam winked. “Don’t worry, we can stick to the outer limits, make them come to us.”

His eyes looked tired, painfully similar to yours, and you wanted to say you missed him but his hand was on your lower back encouraging you to walk into the elevator before him. In an attempt to calm down your nerves, you stayed facing the back corner of the lift, distracting yourself by focusing on the texture of the dress’ material between two of your fingers. Though you swore you could feel the two men staring at you as the numbers climbed a few floors higher, you didn’t turn around. Steve’s hand reached for yours and you took your anchor without hesitation. The pair of them started talking and then the doors chimed, opening to a heavy chatter and music. To your surprise he didn’t let go when you stepped out, looking back at you just for a moment to catch you mouthing a quick ‘thank you’ and he didn’t pull away or pull you closer as you held his hand but walked a step behind him and Sam.

Through the crowd full of strangers, you moved nearly undetected behind the taller men. Anyone that looked in your direction only gave you a fleeting glance before looking back to the Avengers. It wasn’t until the first larger gaggle stopped to greet Steve and ask who Sam was that Steve gave your hand a gentle squeeze and you both let go, fingertips tugging at each other as you slipped away from the crowd. You didn’t look back, feeling eyes on you and wondering if they were Steve’s because you couldn’t bring yourself to acknowledge that anyone had noticed you or the innocent hand holding.

Natasha found you after a while, two flutes of champagne in hand, as your eyes moved through the ever-growing crowd of unfamiliar but picture-perfect faces. You took one with a grateful smile, “Oh, look at you, Natasha! You look like one of those classic movie starlets. Trying to impress someone tonight?”

With a little wink and a sip of her champagne, she sat next to you. “Don’t drink it all. Tony’s speech is coming and I suspect it will be brief but grandiose. Maria told me there was a bit of a pissing contest between Stark and Thor tonight. Tony and Bruce got into it while you were gone.” She gestured over to the bar where the Asgardian towered over your boss, the pair of them laughing between tight smiles. “They love each other, but they love teasing each other a little more, I think. I have to wonder where we’d all be if it wasn’t for Steve.”

You followed her gaze to the tall blonde, laughing with a smile so big that his eyes were practically closed as his right hand clutched his side. Even with the room so loud you knew exactly what that laugh sounded like and you smiled behind your drink. The man was a magnet and yet you felt Natasha’s gaze on you, knowing full well the spy was trying to read what was going on in your head. For the first time in the entire time of knowing Tony Stark, you were grateful for his little interruption. “Good evening, I wanted to welcome you to Stark Tower after another successful mission. We can and do call it a success thanks to the great mind of Dr. Cho and our residential medic, and the skills of the team under superior leadership.”

With the microphone in one hand, Tony used his free hand to gesture to the stunning doctor at his side who had printed the patch that saved Clint’s life. You felt your throat tighten with embarrassment as he neither used your name nor gestured in your direction, instead discussing the achievement of the technology that saved an Avenger. As an introvert, it was always a bit of a mixture of emotions to both go around unnoticed and to be called out. Natasha clapped and you understood her gratefulness, Dr. Cho had saved Clint, but there was no familiar anchor to get you out of your thoughts. Tony continued, but your skin tingled with nerves and your muscles ached with exhaustion, all while your mind raced telling you to leave. Practically turning off your ears, the speech ended without any further acknowledgement of your work, time at the company, and certainly no mention of your name.

Natasha was soon pulled away and bit by bit the growing crowd moved around until your thoughts weren’t the only thing suffocating you. Downing the last of your champagne, you got up and moved around the room trying to calm your nerves and a few drinks later decided it was best to leave. After all, most of your night had been spent alone, apologizing for taking up space at the bar or a couch and vacating the space to a group that knew each other well. Climbing the short staircase toward the elevator, one hand clinging to the railing as you kept your foggy head down, you realized you were behind Steve and Sam.

“It sounds like a hell of a fight. Sorry I missed it”

“If I had known it was going to be a firefight I absolutely would have called.” Steve was being genuine and you smiled. Too buzzed not to eavesdrop, you recalled the same tone used on you in Mallorca. Chalking up the drinks and singledom as the reason you were lamenting your trip away, you managed to bite your tongue.

“I’m not actually sorry, I’m just trying to sound tough.” Sam laughed softly as they stopped at the landing overlooking the party, elevator doors behind them and your chance to escape. “I’m very happy chasing cold leads on our missing person case. Avenging is your world, and your world is crazy.”

“Be it ever so humble.” You looked back at them as you thumbed the elevator’s button a few more times than necessary. Having never heard Steve talk about Stark Industries and the Avengers’ lifestyle in any sort of negative light, it caught you by surprise.

They went quiet for a moment and you kept your eyes forward on the elevator doors. “You find a place in Brooklyn yet?”

“I don’t think I can afford a place in Brooklyn.” Steve confessed and your eyebrows drew together in confusion. Any place worth living in New York was expensive, sure, but you couldn’t picture him making that bad of a salary as Stark’s right hand when you were making more than you ever would in a hospital or private practice.

Hearing the rustle of keys behind you, you welcomed the chime of the elevator doors hoping to escape unscathed without your liquor-laced tongue embarrassing you. You saw Sam smile at Steve. “Well, home is home, y’know.” Steve nodded in agreement, but his gaze was still toward the crowd below. “Hold the elevator, Doc.”

You hadn’t even noticed that Sam saw you, but if he did then you had no doubt Steve had too. Stepping into the elevator you held the ‘doors open’ button for Sam as you fought to not stare at Steve. “I thought the phrase was home is where the heart is?”

When Steve turned around your eyes immediately met his and slowly your faces mirrored in soft smiles. Internally, you were scolding your lack of self control. “I’m sorry I never escaped the crowd to get a chance to-”

“It’s okay.” You interrupted him quickly as Sam stood between you both cross armed and watching the interaction. “I haven’t slept since we got back and I’m just tired and boring… extra boring really because I’ve had champagne.” Waving off Steve’s apology with rambling as you let go of the button, forcing Sam to get in when the doors moved.

Sam gave Steve a nod goodnight and Steve leaned following the closing doors, “Why haven’t you been… umm, I’ll text.”

With panicked nodding you shouted a quick, “Night,” and the second the doors closed you hid your face in your palm and exhaled, “Shit. Shit, shit, shitty shit. Shit!”

It wasn’t until the elevator still wasn’t moving and then filled with Sam’s laughter that you remembered you weren’t alone. “Did you just realize you were into him?”

Your eyes went wide as you reached around him and hit your office’s floor on the panel, wondering both if he was right and if it was that obvious. The thought itself was quickly rejected, “I think anyone with half a brain cell is into him. Like you said, avenging is his world and his world is crazy.” Saying it stung was an understatement, like you were taking off the rose tinted glasses on your time in Mallorca. A little choked up, you mumbled, “What’s the point in wanting someone you can’t have?”

“Yet here you are, wanting him, right?” Sam leaned over and hit the button for the parking deck. “Does this thing usually run this slow?”

“JARVIS? What’s the hold up?” Slumping against the wall of the elevator you looked over Sam, the alcohol buzzing through your system giving you enough liquid courage to ask, “So, are you into him too?”

With a laugh he shook his head no, “We were both playing wingman for each other tonight. Steve meant what he said. He was upset about never escaping the fan club to get back to you, and that’s on me.”

You were about to scoff, but there was a rumble in the elevator, the sound of metal and something clunking around in the empty chamber beneath the elevator below you. Your eyes went wide and the lights flickered before the elevator went dark and began to free fall.

A/N: Thank you for catching another chapter of my little slow burn series! I’m missing Mallorca already. I hope you don’t mind my taking an extra Sunday to focus on getting this chapter right for you all. Do you think Reader and/or Steve will end up back in Mallorca again? Now that they’re both coming to some terms with there being a spark between them, will Ultron crashing the party will it bring them closer together or drown them in work?

Divider by the amazing @firefly-graphics

I will be reblogging with tags, send an ask if you’d like to be added either to the series or to one of my other tag lists.

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers and reader #fic: steve rogers #writer: writerwrites

38 notes · View notes

coffeestainsandcashmere · 4 years ago

Text

Let No Man Steal Your Thyme - (older Dramione), Part Three

Wow! Thank you so much for your feedback and apparent enthusiasm for the previous parts, and for your excitement to see more in the future! I never imagined it’d get any traction, but I’m staggered and touched to see that people are enjoying it!

Here’s part three for you, as promised. I had written twice as much as this (around 7k in total) for part three, but I split it up into two. Part Four will go up tomorrow after I’ve given it another once-over. It’s tooth-rottingly adorable really. There’s pizza involved. And a little delving into the past.

Content warnings for part three: unexpected run-in with Ron, passing mention of past alcohol abuse (Ron), and general prejudices against Slytherins. Again, this isn’t supposed to be a Ron-bashing story, but relationships do break down when fundamental beliefs don’t align. If I seem harsh on Ron, I don’t really mean to be. Hermione also isn’t perfect or unbiased, but she has perhaps slightly more reason to be upset with him than he does with her. It will all be explained in a later part, I promise, but it has been hinted at already in the previous two parts.

Part One | Part Two

___

Friday found her lingering awkwardly in the Ministry’s echoing Atrium, waiting for Theo to come out of his last meeting of the day, up on level five. The problem with being the former Minister for Magic - and one so famously young - was that quite literally everyone knew who she was. So far, in the ten minutes she’d been standing there, a seemingly ceaseless line of twittering assistants and employees had come cringing up to her to ask if she needed anything.

She’d just sent the latest one packing with a tight-lipped ‘no, thank you. I’m just waiting for a friend,’ when someone cleared their throat behind her, and a familiar voice made her heart clench and her breath come short for half a moment.

“’Mione? What are you doing here?”

“Hi, Ron,” she sighed, even before she turned to face him.

In the decade or so since their divorce, he’d actually done pretty well for himself. Gone was the lingering paunch that had crept in towards the tail end of his quidditch career, and now he looked… well, quite frankly, he looked really good. He reminded her of Charlie Weasley a little, with floppy, roguish hair and a surprisingly lean figure once more. Becoming the coach of an internationally-recognised quidditch team suited him, clearly. That, and a happier, second marriage with Lavender, she supposed.

“How are you?” she asked, trying not to sound too stiff and failing abysmally.

“Good,” he said, rocking back on his heels for a moment with his hands shoved into his pockets. “What, uh, what brings you here then? Miss the place too much?” he asked with a little snort of laughter.

“Hardly, Ron,” she said with perhaps a little too much feeling. “No, I’m waiting for Theo.”

At the mention of Theo’s name, Ron’s eyes darkened. “Why?” he blurted.

“Why? Because he’s my friend, Ronald,” she said. “And what are you doing here? Come to blag your way out of another ‘drunk and disorderly in possession of a broomstick’, hmm?”

She knew even as she said it that her snide comment was uncalled for, and that she was being disproportionately petty, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. Something about his lingering, bone-deep resentment of the people with whom she chose to associate these days just brought out the worst in her even now. She wasn’t proud of it. In her defence though, how many times had he tried to use the whole ‘The Minister for Magic is my wife’ ploy to get out of scrapes like that in the past?

Ron’s freckled face flushed at that. “I’m clean and sober now, Hermione,” he said. “Have been for the past five years, which you’d know if you ever came to any of Harry’s dinners. We used to be the ‘Golden Trio’ for fuck’s sake…”

Very quietly, and with what she thought was a remarkable degree of renewed self-control, Hermione said, “Excuse me for not wanting to intrude on your happy family, Ron. I am pleased to hear that though. That’s no small achievement. Congratulations.”

“But you’d still rather go scuttling off with the Slytherins instead of having dinner with me and Harry?” he said, eyes flashing.

There it was. There was the comment — the little dig at her choices — that she’d been waiting for ever since she’d mentioned Theo’s name.

“I hear that you and that lot are pretty tight now. Even dragged Neville into it.”

Her already-simmering outrage crept a degree or two hotter beneath the surface, and Hermione blinked rapidly. “‘Dragged’ Neville? Is that what you call his perfectly healthy and happy relationship with Pansy?”

“He wouldn’t have had anything to do with her if it wasn’t for you and Nott meddling. He’d have settled down with Hannah instead of leaving her for some Slytherin trust-fund bitch. You know she’s still heartbroken about it?”

Her eyebrows rose. That wasn’t how it had happened at all, though she knew Hannah was still upset, and she’d just opened her mouth to say so when she felt the prickle of other people’s eyes on them.

“I’m not discussing this, Ron, and I’m certainly not starting something here in the Ministry Atrium, for God’s sake,” she said, turning away. Her ears were starting to ring as her magic crackled inside her and she took a long, steadying inhale to try and calm down. People were indeed starting to stare, and she thought she glimpsed Gabriella Guile lurking near the sandwich shop with one of Rita Skeeter’s bloody ‘Quick-Quotes Quills’ hovering at the ready. “Please, Ron.”

He stepped in close and snarled, “Well, at least some of us still remember where our loyalties lie.”

Hermione saw red at that and spun back round to face him, eyes flashing and hair expanding like a Devil’s Snare. “Loyalty?” she spat. “You — you of all people — want to lecture me about loyalty?!”

Clearly he hadn’t followed that thought through to its conclusion before opening his mouth. He turned beetroot red and took half a step back, hands up defensively. “Look, Mione, I’m sorry. I didn’t come over to start another fight. It’s not like I expected to see you here - you don’t even work here anymore, and it’s not like we hang out or anything. How was I to know?” He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “I’m meeting Harry when he gets off work and we’re going for a drink at the Leaky. Let’s... Lets just forget it, ok?”

A hand landing gently but firmly between her shoulders made her jump and she whipped round to find Theo standing behind her, looming over her from his six-foot-something height. “Alright, love?” he asked in a steady baritone without taking his eyes off Ron.

“Ready to go,” she said tartly. “Say hi to Harry for me, Ron.”

And with that, they left the Ministry by floo for Theo’s.

As she stepped out of the swirling green flames of the fancy, Mayfair town-house’s marble fireplace only a moment or so behind him, she found Daniel rising from the sofa to greet Theo with a kiss, and once Theo had moved off through the house to hang up his cloak, he opened his arms to hug her warmly.

Dan, always a pleasure,” she said. “How are you?”

The unexpected meeting with Ron left her oddly rattled. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen him at all in the decade since the divorce - his little sister was her own best friend, and she’d met Bill Weasley on more than one occasion during her time at the Ministry, but still, to see him doing so well for himself and to see him so happy should have made her pleased. After all the years of shared friendship that she genuinely cherished, she should have been happy for him.

Instead it galled and made her uncharacteristically bitter to know that he had everything he wanted now and he still couldn’t resist trying to rubbish the few things she had left of value in her life. Theo and Daniel were among her closest friends, and to her surprise, the rest of the Slytherins had adopted her into their little group without question.

“Let’s start a bit early, shall we?” Theo chimed as he re-entered the living room with three champagne flutes and a bottle of something French and no doubt eye-wateringly expensive floating in front of him. Since that left his hands free, he began undoing his cuff links as he walked. “The others should be here soon enough anyway, and I just closed a deal with the Ministère des Affaires Magiques de la France that I’ve been trying to hash out all year. Yay me.”

His flawless French accent made Hermione smile. Everything just seemed so easy and natural to Theo; it might have enviable if he weren’t such an affable sweetheart to go with it.

“Yay you,” Daniel chuckled, eyes glittering with affection as Theo handed Hermione a very full glass. “To my brilliant husband.”

Two hours later, amid the happy murmur of conversation that now filled the gorgeous, airy ground floor, Hermione looked up as the floo whooshed and Draco Malfoy stepped out. She’d begun to think he wasn’t going to show, and when she caught sight of him, a weight unexpectedly lifted from her chest. Something, at least, was going right today.

He had a heavy, black cloak around his shoulders and a bundle of brown paper parcels under one arm, printed with the logos of various Diagon Alley shops, though it was well past most of their closing times. She wondered where he’d been in the meantime, but didn’t want to pry.

Whether out of surprise or curiosity, the chatter in the living room sputtered out a little at his arrival before Pansy rose to her feet and flung her arms around his neck. “Draco, darling!” she laughed as she air-kissed his winter-pink cheeks and hissed melodramatically in his ear — loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear —, “I’m so glad you came; Blaise owes me ten galleons. He said you wouldn’t come.”

Draco twitched his lips fondly into something that was almost a smirk and unclasped his cloak as she stepped away from him. He folded it up neatly atop the parcels beside the now-still fireplace and shot her a look. “Glad to know how much my company is worth these days, Pans,” he drawled.

As he straightened, Hermione actually sank her teeth into her lower lip at the way his bespoke charcoal grey suit fitted him, accentuating his long, lean figure, with narrow hips and broad shoulders. He looked every bit the successful businessman while she was slouching around in the jeans and mauve hoodie she’d thrown on in the back room after closing the bookshop for the day. No wonder Pansy had given her an affectionately pitying grimace when she’d greeted her earlier.

Theo rose gracefully from his seat beside her on the sofa to join Draco and Pansy by the hearth, and he hugged Draco fondly, murmuring something in his ear. The two were almost a match in height, though where Theo’s hair was a warm, copper-streaked, chocolate brown and his skin a tanned, freckled olive, Draco’s hair and skin were almost as colourless as the marble fireplace behind him.

When Draco drew back this time, he spotted Hermione over Theo’s shoulder. He offered her a slow incline of his head, and allowed a clinking tumbler of whisky and ice to be pressed into his hand by Theo.

Hermione wasn’t really sure quite what she’d been expecting from Draco when she’d invited him to join Theo’s usual Friday night drinks. Whatever it had been though, it wasn’t the thoughtful, considerate conversationalist she now found engaging Neville in detailed discussion about the disadvantages of farming dittany commercially. For some reason, Draco’s icy exterior and apparently reclusive behaviour had made her think he might be socially awkward, but apparently one can’t train the upper-class manners out of someone once it’s been bred into their bloodline for umpteen generations, even after a dusty decade of disuse. Further to her surprise, he actually seemed genuinely interested in what Neville had to say about the difference in potency between rare, wild-harvested dittany and the farmed stuff.

Meanwhile, she just sat on the sofa with Neville on her left and Theo on her right, and only half-listened to the talk around her, not participating at all.

Despite everyone’s obvious enjoyment of the gathering, Hermione found herself unable to muster any of her usual social enthusiasm, and remained in pretty subdued silence. After a while, Neville politely excused himself to find Pansy, with an earnest promise to follow up on something or other for Malfoy, and his seat was not reoccupied.

In the lull, Malfoy took the opportunity to lean across the space from his armchair to the sofa and murmur, “Everything alright, Granger?”

From beside her, Theo looked round and slung his arm causally over her shoulders and squeezed. “Hermione had a small run in with her ex-husband in the middle of the Ministry Atrium.”

Draco’s eyes flashed and his lip curled minutely.

“Nothing dramatic, but the prick had the nerve to insinuate that Slytherins make for poor company. Luckily, dear Hermione reminded him that we’re not all still twelve years old...”

She managed a smile at that. “Don’t let me rain on your party, Theo, but I think... I think I will head home now.”

“Feel free to floo,” he breezed, waving the hand that had been around her shoulders with a flash of the gold signet ring on his little finger, “But obviously I’d much rather you stay and drink yourself into a giggling stupor again... It’s been far too long since that happened.”

“You drink yourself into a giggling stupor every Friday, Theo. I’m sure you can manage to do it again on my behalf tonight. I’d love to stay, but it’s all getting a bit... loud now anyway...” she said vaguely. “I think I’ll walk home.”

Theo just nodded and gave her an affectionate little wink that would have looked corny on anyone half as charming. “Take care of yourself, sweetheart. Say hello to whatever your book-du-jour is for me. Will it be Emily or Charlotte this time?”

Draco frowned in confusion and she laughed a little. “Charlotte.”

Still cleanly nonplussed, Malfoy looked from Theo to Hermione before Theo grinned at him. “Brontë,” he said conspiratorially. “Muggle author.” He looked back to Hermione and said, “Means it’s an evening with dear Jane Eyre then. Haven’t you read that a hundred times?”

“More, probably,” she chuckled, standing. “Goodnight, Draco. I’m glad you came. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

He nodded, looking slightly winded for some reason, and offered nothing else.

After saying goodbye to a few people, and finding that Pansy had somehow managed to drape herself successfully across Neville’s lap despite the fact that he was sitting on a bar stool of all things, Hermione headed for the front door and slipped out into the night alone.

With her coat still over the crook of one arm despite the biting wind, she made her way from Theo’s cushy house out into wider Muggle London, and from there she began to meander.

Just as she crossed the boundary into Hyde Park, she heard running feet and someone calling her name. To her surprise, she turned and found Malfoy loping along the pavement after her.

Halting, she waited for him to catch up and looked curiously up at him. His pale cheeks were flushed pink again from the bout of light exercise, his breath billowed white, and his hair seemed to glow like burnished silver in the harsh light of the street lamps. It was hard to doubt the rumours of him being part Veela in moments like that.

“What is it, Malfoy?” she asked when he didn’t articulate the reason for his hasty journey. “Did I forget something?”

“No, I —“ he faltered and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. The motion ruffled his hair into something altogether softer and more attractive. He cut it much shorter at the sides now but left the top longer, and it had an attractive wave to it that had once been oiled out of existence in his earlier years at Hogwarts. “I thought — ach, this was a stupid idea.”

“What do you mean? What was a stupid idea?”

“I thought I’d come after you and see if you were alright. You looked fucking miserable back there, Granger.”

“You taught your son foundation spellwork with that mouth, Malfoy?” she countered, slightly staggered by his apparent thoughtfulness. This was not the Malfoy she remembered at all, and it was gratifying to find that her experience of him over lunch had not been a one-off.

He smirked and the effect was disarming in a way it never had been at Hogwarts. “I do try not to swear around him, but if he’s learnt something uncouth, I couldn’t promise it didn’t come from me. Or Theo. Actually it’s more likely to have come from Theo.”

She laughed suddenly. “Your little mandrake,” she sighed.

Something odd passed across his face and he stuffed his hands into his jacket pocket. “Salazar’s balls,” he cursed. “It’s colder out here than I thought.”

Wandlessly, she murmured a spell to extend the radius of her own extant warming charm to surround them both. “Better?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Left my cloak and stuff back at Theo’s.”

Hermione smiled and gestured with the arm holding her coat. “I’d offer you mine, but I’m not sure even you could pull off a Muggle women’s rain mac that’s several sizes too small for you.”

“Oh I don’t know,” he said. “I think I could transfigure it into something… workable.”

“You sound just like Theo and Dan and Pansy,” she groaned. “They’re always threatening to take me shopping. I’m terrified to let them loose on my wardrobe. I’m afraid I’ll never see another pair of comfy jeans again!”

“Don’t listen to them. The way you dress is just fine,” he said easily. “Besides, you give that lot an inch and they’ll take a mile. You should always stand your ground, especially against Pansy…”

“Well, I’ve got Nev on my side too,” she said. “Though even I have to admit that she’s had a positive effect on his wardrobe. Maybe I should let her take me shopping after all... I probably couldn’t afford the places she shops though,” she laughed, then looked up to find an odd light in Malfoy’s grey eyes. “You really came haring through London after me just to check I was alright?”

“And walk you home if you’d like,” he added. “But I’ll leave you in peace if I’m imposing. Heavens know you’ve had one pushy bloke to deal with already today...”

“The last thing I think of you right now is ‘pushy’, Malfoy. I think you’re very kind to come after me.”

He looked away at that and a private smile graced his lips. Bloody hell though; where some people’s looks seemed to have been watered down with age, Malfoy’s features had been honed and refined by time into something akin to a masterpiece, with high, sharp cheekbones and a slim, and clearly very fit and healthy, figure. It made her stomach swoop and ache again in a way she hadn’t felt in years. It also made her feel a little self-conscious of the softer curves she was carrying around her hips, arms, and lower stomach these days. Hefting books around kept her strong, but a largely sedentary life in the bookshop wasn’t doing wonders for her once-svelte figure, it had to be said.

He nudged his elbow out a few inches and she smiled, taking the offer and sliding her fingers into the crook of his arm.

They set off and walked slowly, aimlessly, along the walkways of Hyde Park, and for a long time neither of them spoke. A cyclist shot past them at one point, and Malfoy watched him disappear into the distance with an inquisitive frown, as if trying to figure out how it could possibly function. He never said anything though, and they carried on, warmed by Hermione’s spell and encased in an oddly amicable silence.

It was Malfoy who broke the silence at last. “You find this strange, Granger?” he asked, glancing down at her.

Her breath caught as she stared up into those full-moon eyes of his; bright and silver and so god-damned intense. Gone was the pinched look of fear and insecurity lingering in the corners. Gone was the cruel, steely glint. The lines of his face were still hard and severe, and he carried a hefty frown most of the time, and that trademark pointy chin was still there, but he really had grown up, inside and out, and it showed.

“Strange?” she croaked. “What, you and me walking arm in arm through Hyde Park at seven in the evening?”

“Mmm,” he nodded.

“A little,” she admitted as she looked ahead up the path. “A little.”

Part Four

___

As before, if you like where it’s going and want to see more, do let me know! I will post it on Tumblr as I write it, and once it’s all complete, I’ll plop it onto AO3 in one go. That way keeps the pressure off a bit, I think? Anyway, let me know if you’re enjoying it, and why, either by reblogging this or sending me an ask

writing masterlist | Ao3

#dramione #older dramione #draco malfoy x hermione granger #hermione granger x draco malfoy #draco malfoy #hermione granger #dramione fic #older dramione fic #hermione x draco #let no man steal your thyme

66 notes · View notes

yespolkadotkitty · 3 years ago

Photo

Long Way to Go - Chapter 1

Ryan Brenner x OFC, Grace Lin

THANKYOU so much to @the-blind-assassin-12 for casting an eye over this and for friendship and enthusiasm and thankyou to @suchatinyinfinity and @something-tofightfor for being so friendly!

W/C: 1550 ~ Warnings: None? General audiences.

-----

It was hot as hell.

Sweat trickled down the back of my neck as I checked the thermometer in the pastry display case. Melted cream cakes didn’t sell, and I had to keep the served-cold meat bao from spoiling, but at least the fortune cookies, red bean cakes and mochi would be good for hours.

People bustled past, some holding mini electric fans, others cooling themselves with tall iced drinks from the nearby Starbucks.

I took a deep drink from my water bottle. I’d topped up the ice cubes just ten minutes ago and they were already just a memory.

The two girls I employed cleaned tables, their hair scooped up out of their faces, chattering about some party they were off to later, and which popular boys would be attending. Their giggling made me feel every one of my thirty-two years.

The overhead fan whirled silently as the bell above the door tinkled musically, letting in a gaggle of teenagers. They kept me busy for the next few minutes, ordering a bunch of fortune cookies and bao, barely looking up from their phones as they paid me.

As one of the teenagers pulled the shop door open, a gasp of music broke my train of thought (mango or green tea cookies tomorrow?). Curious, I peered out of the window.

On the street corner, sitting against the trunk of a large tree planted in the sidewalk, a man played guitar and sang.

His head was down, but thick, dark hair peeked out from under his battered hat, the brim shading his face from view.

His voice was deep and melancholy, and it pulled at something inside me. I kept the door open, listening.

Quite a little crowd had gathered around him. His fingers danced over the guitar strings effortlessly, his low, sultry voice carrying to me on what little there was of a breeze in New York in July.

I got lost in the lyrics for a moment, and must have leaned on the door too hard. The bell tinkled and I had to hang on to avoid falling face first on the pavement.

Smooth, Lin. Real smooth.

Without skipping a beat, the busker glanced my way. His eyes were the very dark brown of expensive Swiss chocolate, concern shining in their depths.

I smiled to let him know I was okay, and his gaze moved over me for a moment. I felt every second. His eyes smiled first, and then as he finished the last note in a line, his lips curved, too, a dimple flashing above his scruffy beard, and oh. I was a goner. He was the most beautiful man I’d seen in a long time, and this was NYC, so that was saying something.

“Hey, Earth to Grace! You gonna stand there all day?”

The Brooklyn twang jerked me back to reality and I blinked, looking into the face of my delivery guy. “Sorry, Mikey.”

The bulky Asian-American grinned, casting a thumb at the busker. “He’s all right.”

I tore my gaze away again. “He sure is.”

Mikey wheeled his little hand truck to the storeroom and started to unload as I served a young woman who had questions about allergies. She read my ingredients lists and decided on three pork floss buns, the ones hot from the heated plate. Just going near it made me near-recoil with the steam that bathed my face.

As the customer paid and I thanked her, clipping a business card to the paper bag, I glanced out at the busker. He was drinking from a water bottle, his head tipped back to expose the line of his neck. The bottle was near-empty.

“Hey, Kristi?”

One of the girls I employed stopped mid-chatter to her colleague about someone called Dwayne and how dreamy he looked in a football jersey, and whipped her head round to me.

“Can you man the counter for a sec?”

She bobbed her head yes and we swapped places. I grabbed a bottle of water from the tall fridge by the door, the shaped plastic cold against my palm. I hesitated, then grabbed another.

The wall of heat enveloped me as soon as I stepped out of the door.

The busker looked up at the sound of the bell, shoulders bunching in his worn white t-shirt as I approached, as if steeling himself for something.

The crowd had thinned between songs, people put off from standing by the sheer heat of a New York summer, but the open guitar case held a bundle of notes, some fives and tens, as well as several scatterings of coins.

“Hi,” I greeted him. “Ma’am,” he drawled, softly. His smile seemed easy, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

I suspected that he was wondering if I was gearing up to threaten to call the police on his ass.

I wasn’t.

I held out the bottles of water. “Thought you might be thirsty.”

“Sure am.” He smiled up at me, fingers drumming on his thigh, but he didn’t attempt to take the water. “‘S very kind of you.”

You stepped closer, offering the bottles and he finally took them from me . His hands brushed mine, his skin warm and tan, a little rough. I noticed the unusual ink on his fingers, wanted to ask, but politeness stopped me.

“Your music is beautiful,” I said as he unscrewed the first bottle, the second held between his knees.

“Thank you, ma’am.” He took a deep drink, and I tried not to feel like a letch, admiring the line of his neck, the bob of his Adam’s apple. “‘S a nice bakery you got there.”

“Thanks. I, um, never thought it’d be a thing. You know? When you dream about something for so long and when it finally comes true, you can’t believe it?”

He met my gaze. “Can’t say I know a whole lot about that.”

For the first time, I took in his attire properly - large burlap backpack, battered army-style boots, the laces frayed, the near-threadbare edges of his hat. “God. I’m so sorry, I’m such an idiot-”

He shook his head, a shy little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Don’ be. I like it better when folks don’t have to watch their every word ‘round me. I’m Ryan.”

“I’m Grace. The idiot.” I offered a hand and he shook it, and his palm was wide and warm, a little calloused, and sparks of awareness slid up my arm.

“Do you often play around here?” I gestured to the little stretch of the Chinatown of Flushing, Queens, that my bakery sat on.

“No, ma’am. I’m a traveller. Been t’ New York before, but not this particular spot.”

“And how is this particular spot?”

Ryan drummed his fingers on his guitar thoughtfully. “‘S good. Folk are nice, for the most part.” He started on the second bottle of water, his tongue flicking out to over bottom lip after he drank. “Hot as hell, though, and I say that as a Southern boy.”

I opened my mouth to ask where in the South he hailed from, but Kristi appeared in the doorway of my shop. “Grace? Sorry, Mikey needs the auth code for this delivery.”

“Oh, sure.” I turned back to Ryan. “It was good to meet you. Your music is really fantastic.”

He ducked his head, smiling, a little shy. “Mighty kind of you, ma’am.”

By this point another little crowd had gathered, waiting to hear him sing, and I left them to it. I wished I could have the shop door open to hear him, but that would defeat the point of air conditioning.

But even so, throughout the afternoon, I kept glancing over, seeing him still there, singing. During a busy point I asked Kristi to go and bring him another bottle of water, and I saw the smile he flashed her, feeling jealous of the attention, and called myself utterly ridiculous for it. I hadn’t even known Ryan existed a couple of hours ago.

Customers thinned out. It was a weekday, and business always slowed down around six pm. I shut at seven, so at six-thirty I sent Kristi and Susan home. As they opened the door, I caught a line of song in Ryan’s soft, smooth drawl.

Nine hundred more miles, and I’ll be doin’ just fine-

When he finished, after the small crowd had dropped dollar bills and murmured their appreciation, I called out to him.

“You want to come inside? Have a cold drink? Use the air con?”

I saw the hesitation flick over his face, the trepidation mixed with curiosity, and in the end, the latter must’ve won, because he stood up.

“That’s it for today, ladies and gentlemen,” I heard him say to the people circled around him. A man tossed a couple of bills in his guitar case, and Ryan touched his hat in thanks.

The listeners dispersed, and Ryan settled his guitar in his case like a mother swaddling her baby; with utmost gentleness. And then he looked up, smiling, that dimple winking, and walked towards me.

Taglist: @agirllovespancakes

#ryan brenner x ofc #jackie x ryan fic #jackie x ryan au #ben barnes character fanfiction

14 notes · View notes

nautiscarader · 4 years ago

Note

One more stocking next year - pregnancy/impregnation Hiccstrid. Astrid wants to give Hiccup a memmorable snoggletog gift. They fuck on furs by the fire all night long. Astrid wants to make absolutely sure it works so she times her getting filled with the rising solstice sun for the gods blessing.

(okay, so first of all, i LOVED that detailed and well-thought prompt, this is how you ensure yourself a spot in my heart. I had to make one tiny change to make it better with the idea of polar night during Snoggletog, though. Also ages might be wonky given the canon, but w/e)

(Ao3)

Also, if you enjoyed my work, here's Ko-fi link if you'd be so kind ❤️ .

==============

Never before has Astrid been that nervous during the Snoggletog day. true, this day was usually hectic, filled with preparations and last-minute shopping, but this year was different. This was their first Snoggletog on New Berk. First Snoggletog without dragons. And first Snoggletog as a wife.

The past few months she helped Hiccup preparing the Vikings for the winter in new place. Finding new sources of food, gathering supplies, mapping the territory. And now, on top of it was the celebration itself, draining the time from the ever shorter days, as their land approached the short two weeks of never-ending night.

Sitting by the table, amongst her and Hiccup's family, Astrid nervously looked in the window, at the last rays of the setting Sun, hoping her nervousness wasn't too noticeable. But she was wrong, as Hiccup's keen eye quickly spotted her behaviour and reached his hand to hold hers, noticing she hasn't touched the dish she helped preparing.

- Is something wrong? - he whispered, leaning towards her, while his mother sang with Gobber - No, no.. - Astrid smiled - I just wished we were alone already... This day was so... exhausting.

Hiccup looked into her tired eyes, and after a moment of thinking kissed her on the cheek.

- I hope you are ready for one last act. - The what?

Hiccup sat back in his chair, reached for a bottle of mead, and when everyone else were staring at the singing couple, he pretended to pour himself a cup. The peaceful musical moment was shattered with the cup that tumbled to the ground, as Hiccup began moving erratically in his chair.

- Oh, oh dear! - he babbled - It seems we might have brewed a bit too strong mead this year.

He winked at Astrid.

- Aye, yes, you are right, my husband. - she acted best to her abilities. - I don't think I can stand on my leg! If only there was someone strong that could help me walk to my bed! - Don't worry, lad, I'll carry ya!

Hiccup stopped wobbling at once when Gobber reached towards him.

- Between you and we we have two working legs, so we'll be there lickety split.

Astrid pierced him with a stern gaze.

- Er, don't you think tat tis should be Aye, his betrothed wife to carry him, and, er... scold him for clouding his mind too much? - Ar, ye might be right. Just wanted to help, that's all. - So, that's settled then, we are so sorry we cannot stay longer, but...

The two exchanged knowing looks.

- I have to make him a nice cup of yak nog!

This time, Hiccup didn't have to pretend to lose his balance.

- Yes, right, that should do it...

Five minutes later, Hoccup and Astrid were laughing as they waddled through the thick snow away from the chieftain's hall back to their hut, and just before they entered, Hiccup ceremoniously grabbed Astrid and carried her through the door, much to her enjoyment.

- Okay, first emergency exit from family meeting as a new chief. I don't think it was that bad. - It was. It was horrible. - Astrid kissed him - But we don't have to worry about it. - Astrid, go to bed, I'm gonna make you some tea, maybe? - Hiccup took her coat - That should calm your nerves. And I will do stuff around the house...

But as he undid his coat, Astrid's arms closed around his neck, just as her lips met with his in a long, fiery kiss that truly made him feel drunk.

- Actually, I wasn't feeling tired... - she looked into their living room, illuminated by just a dash of light from outside. - I was hurrying up to.. to give you my gift. - Oh, milady, you don't have to do this today, you can wait till tomorrow- - No, no I can't. - she said sharply.

She pressed her lips against his again and walked into the room, leading Hiccup with her. And with each step, her fingers undid one layer of his clothes, and when his hands reached her waist, she let out a prolonged moan, happy that he was on with her plan.

- Here? - Mhm. - she murmured, kissing his jawline.

His ceremonial clothes felt to the floor, and so did hers, tied with dozens of knots and strings.

- We have all night... - No, no we don't. - she repeated, making Hiccup raise his eyebrows. - Okay, time out. Is there something I don't know about? - Hiccup...

She leaned against him, still undoing her clothes.

- Today is the last day of the Sun.

With her other hand she grabbed a piece of wood and threw it into the fireplace. Hiccup at once readied his fiery sword and ignited it, filling the room with pleasant warmth and light.

- Hiccup, I did some calculations, and it's today. Today is the best day for me to... give you your present.

She took his hand and placed it above her sex, just as he was about to undo the bindings there. But then, he looked at her, and noticed the fire in her eyes, burning so much brighter than any reflection of real one would.

- Astrid...! - Don't you want it? Gods would approve, it's a perfect... perfect moment...

She turned around again, hoping to see the light between the thick wall of trees that surrounded their house.

- Well, if so, then we are losing time, milady.

Astrid yelped again when Hiccup took her and lay her on the thick, fluffy furs, one of the few new spoils of hunts on the New Berk. He didn't bother with the last bindings of her corset, and went straight for her delicate panties, kissing her thick thighs, so ideal for the gift she wanted to give him.

- Hic-Hiccup, maybe-maybe don't... - I am not going to leave my lady unsatisfied. - he replied sternly, continuing his foreplay. - Oh, Hiccup...

Astrid threw her head back and let his subtle kisses coat her wet, overflowing sex. She straight out cried his name when his tongue dipped between her folds, revealing how wet she really was.

- I think you did your math right. - he kissed her folds - It's a good thing I didn't drink at all... - Hiccup, don't-don't let me wait... I want to do it all night, but the first... The first one has to be now!

Her husband slid onto her, and as soon as their lips met, her legs locked behind his back, as if her life depended on it. She moaned when his tip parted her soaking folds, and with his first thrust, she arched her back, aligning her sex to better suit their animalistic needs. a moment later she felt something underneath her back, and realised that their clothes, bundled together would serve as a makeshift pillow, shaping her body into an ideal position for her carnal desire.

But even then, Hiccup took it a bit further. He grabbed her legs and threw it on his shoulders, just so he could sink an inch or two deeper inside her, an action Astrid welcomed with an unbridled "Yes!". her legs locked behind his neck this time, together with her hands, and in the intimate, tight position, the two began rocking their bodies, running against the time and Sun itself.

Every few seconds Astrid looked to her right, at the small window, and to her left to see shadows of the tree getting longer and longer, trying to find the right moment when they would disappear. but it was easier said than done, as with their biological needs came also the frivolous ones, when Hiccup sneaked his hand between their bodies just to stimulate her swollen num above her entrance.

Astrid lost her mind, kicking and scaring his shoulders, as they drew closer and closer to hers and his fulfilment. The two often finished at different moments, but this one? It had to be simultaneous, Astrid decided, there was no other way.

Astrid moaned, nervously shifting her stare between her husband and the frosted window, trying to postpone his release, despite her body demanding the pleasure that has been building up in her loins. Her needy, quickened, ragged breath coincided with his grunts, and only when she lost track of the Sun that hid behind the horizon, she dug her nails into Hiccup's neck and screamed her plea.

- N-Now! give me your seed! All-all of it!

Never to disappoint his lady, Hiccup gladly fulfilled her plea. He let out a prolonged, deep groan as his hips smashed against hers one final time, and he finally let go, flooding Astrid's fertile womb with streams of his seed, while her body arched under the pleasure that shook her body. Hiccup collapsed on top of her bosom, quickly trying to find her lips, while his body, twisted with hers, continued the sacred ritual they've been preparing for, sending more and more life-giving fluids inside her thirsty body.

Long minutes have passed, as their bodies shook together, and when the two opened their eyes, all they could see in the dimly lit room was the fire's reflections, dancing in their eyes. Hiccup was sure that Astrid cheeks have never look more flustered, the combination of heat from the fire, sultry atmosphere, and an even sultier passion that connected their bodies.

- Do you think it worked? - Hiccup sneaked a kiss between her breasts, knowing well that Astrid would jitter when he brushed a particularly sensitive spot - It better did. Otherwise I will be really pissed at the gods.

She cupped his face and pressed his head against her chest, still rising up and down, desperate for air she expelled when she cried his name.

- But still, I wasn't joking, Hiccup. - she suddenly added, catching his attention - I meant it when I said I want to make love all night.

He blinked.

- Not until the Sun rises again...

Hiccup's eyes opened wide just as he was about to kiss her breasts again, as the meaning of her words finally dawned on him.

- But... it's gonna be two weeks, maybe even fifteen days until... - I know. - Astrid cupped his face and tightened her grip on him - We've been gathering the supplies, and for the next two weeks, we're not gonna leave the house. And you...

She crossed her legs, locking them tightly behind his back, bringing his face inches away from hers.

- You're not gonna leave me.

To prove her point, she gave him a gentle kick to his butt, and with that, he started advancing again, seemingly delving deeper with each trust even though she thought he has reached his limit already, just to ensure he would plant his seed as close to her womb as possible. And though he already filled her once, he was more than happy to do it again.

As it turned out, Astrid really wasn't joking about her plan. Though the two did leave the house, of course - perhaps just to watch the northern lights against the dark sky of the short polar night - she was relentless with milking Hiccup of the chief's seed at least twice a day, ensuring that not a drop of his cum would be wasted, though she sometimes had to use her fingers to clean up after a particularly messy finish that overflowed her sex. Still, she was his wife, so it belonged to her, even if she has to preserve it in her belly...

Astrid never before believed what her mother or Valka told about women's instincts, until she awoken two weeks later to the first rays of newly reborn Sun. She felt ill, was sweaty, hot, though instead of her forehead burning, sudden warmth radiated from within her core that just a few hours earlier has been once more overfilled by Hiccup's virility. And when she placed her hand over it, she knew it has happened. She wouldn't even have to ask Gothi for her wheat seeds that she'd have to pee on to see if they'd sprout. She just... knew.

She turned to her husband, sleeping after another tiring session and though she was eager to tell him the news, she just closed her arms around him, sneaking a kiss to his cheek. And when he turned and closed his arm over her belly, he knew it too.

===========

Also, that “peeing on wheat seeds was a surprisingly reliable pregnancy test.

#hiccstrid #lemon #Anonymous #nautiscaraderfics #aged-up characters and all that #HICCSTRID #HTTYD #ASTRID HOFFERSON #HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK III

30 notes · View notes

that-one-gay-girl · 4 years ago

Text

Oh, Baby - Ch.2

Pairing: Daddy!Dean x Reader

Word Count: 1905

Summary: The Winchester Family prepares for Thanksgiving

A/N: Hey y’all! So originally I planned for this to be the Sequel to my One-shot Oh, Baby. As I was writing it I realized I have so much more I want to put into this story so I’ve decided to turn it into a series. Let me Know if you want to be tagged!

The sound of giggles floated through the bunker as Dean and Sam walked through the door. “Luna May Winchester” you say sternly as she splashes water all over your shirt again.

“I sowy mama” She blows you kisses as you finish washing her off.

“Is that my little bug i hear?” Dean asks as he steps into the bathroom

“Daddy!” She squeals trying to get out of the tub to him.

“Careful baby it's slippery” Dean walks over to the bathtub scooping her up in a towel. “Oh i missed you bug” he kisses her face all over, giggles spilling from her lips.

“Well now that daddy is here mommy is in need of some dry clothes” Dean takes luna to her room to get ready for bed as you walk into the shared bedroom and put pajamas on.

“Daddy read stowy?” Luna asks as Dean puts her rainbow pajamas on and brushes her hair.

“Go pick one out bug” Luna jumps down from her bed and walks over to her reading corner, she grabs three books before running back to her bed and crawling underneath the blankets.

Walking into Luna’s roomas Dean opens the first book, as you sit on the other side of Luna, running your fingers through her hair. Finishing the second book, Luna's eyes close softly as soft snores fall from her lips.

You both kiss her one last time before closing her bedroom door. “How was it? Is Jody all settled into the new place?” you ask

“Yeah, now she's just gotta paint and replace the living room floor and she's done. She really turned that old piece of junk around” Dean replies as you both walk into the kitchen to find Sam eating.

“Hey sam” you hug him quickly before making yourself a mug of hot chocolate. Dean pulls out leftovers from the fridge as the three of you relax and hang out. “So Thanksgiving is coming up, I thought we should invite people over and have dinner?” You question the boys as they eat their dinner.

“Yeah, that could be fun. I’m sure Eileen would love to visit and see Luna!” Sam says excitedly at the thought of seeing Eileen. You chuckle softly at Sam as you finish your drink, resting your head on Dean's shoulder.

“As long as there's lots of pie I don’t care what we do” Dean replies. Shortly after finalizing Thanksgiving plans everyone retires to their rooms for the night.

The next morning you roll over in bed to wrap your arms around Dean only to be met with a tiny body. You open your eyes to see Luna holding back a giggle “What’s so funny baby girl?” you ask her with a smile as you begin tickling her.

“Momma Stop!” she squeals in laughter. You scoop her into your arms as you walk towards the war room.

“Where's daddy and Uncle Sam?” You question the ball of energy wiggling in your arms, as Luna slips from your arms to the ground she takes off running screaming

“Unca Sammy gots a puppy!”. Your eyes widen as you follow behind your daughter. As the war room comes into view you see Dean frowning at Sam who indeed is holding a very small puppy.

“Dude, it's a puppy not a monster, what did you want me to do? Abandon it and let it die?” He looks at Dean questioningly.

“Maybe if you weren’t Mr. Health nut and always going on runs, we wouldn't be in this mess!” Dean responds. Walking into the room you lean against the wall.

“So we have a dog now?” You question your husband as Sam sits on the ground so Luna can play with the puppy.

“No, we are getting rid of it” He responds looking at you sternly.

“Daddy! NO!” Luna cries holding the puppy against her small body. You smirk at Dean as big fat tears roll down Luna’s cheeks

“Like I said, we have a dog now” you say to your husband who now looks defeated.

“Come on unca Sammy!” Luna pulls Sam with her as she chases the puppy down the hall. Kissing Dean softly you tell him

“You’re the best dad, now I have people to invite, a meal to plan, and a grocery store trip to make. Maybe you and Sam could take Luna to the park today, she misses you.”

Thirty minutes later you are sipping coffee at the table as you write down a grocery list. Dean walks into the kitchen, Luna’s small ladybug backpack in hand.

“Luna’s all bundled up, its a little chilly today. We are going to get dog supplies and then head to the park. If you need anything just call ok?” He confirms with you as he kisses your forehead.

Nodding you stand up following him to the impala to say goodbye to your daughter. Opening the back door you double check her buckles and kiss her forehead. “Be good for Daddy babygirl.” You tell her

“I am!” She grins widely showing off her teeth

Laughing softly you close the door and wave as the impala pulls out of the garage. Going back to your room you grab a pair of skinny jeans with a cream sweater, deciding to dress up slightly you grab your new pair of booties, zipping them up.

Grabbing your bag you put the grocery list inside and grab the keys to your car. When you arrive at the grocery store you groan, debating your choice to have a thanksgiving meal as you see the store filled with people.

Grabbing a shopping cart you quickly gather your list of supplies filling the cart to the brim, you consider grabbing a second cart, knowing how much the hunters loved to eat. In the end you manage to get everything into one cart and head to the checkout counter. Once you checkout, you are glad about the credit card scams for once, seeing the large total of $378.43.

Putting the groceries into the trunk of the car you shiver as the wind picks up. If the weather kept this up it would be snowing in no time, you thought to yourself. Turning the car on you turn up the heater as you listen to the soft acoustics of the music drifting quietly throughout the car.

Once you are you notice it’s already two in the afternoon, quickly putting away the groceries you grab your phone begging to make calls to your family. Dialing Jody’s number first you heat up a small lunch for yourself.

“This is Jody.” She answers after the third ring

“Hey Jody! It’s Y/n, I was calling because we decided to do a last minute thanksgiving and we wanted to invite you and the girls.” You tell her happily

“That sounds perfect Y/n, we were just talking about plans for thanksgiving. We will head down there in the morning, it’ll give us plenty of time to catch up and see that gorgeous girl of yours.” She responds

“Great! We’ll see y’all then!” Hanging up you make your way down the list inviting Jody and the girls, Garth, Charlie, and Bobby. You hadn’t seen everyone in a long time and having them in one place together kept a smile on a face.

This year was extra special for another reason, as you finish eating you can’t help but smile down at the small bump of your stomach, two weeks ago you took a pregnancy test. At first you thought it was a stomach bug because Luna was just getting over it.

Turns out, it was another baby. You couldn’t wait to tell Dean about the newest addition but you were worried as well. With the news of your second child coming you had been thinking more and more about leaving the hunting life, you hadn’t shared any of this with your husband but you knew eventually you would have to tell him.

Keeping yourself occupied you clean the bunker, getting it ready for guests. Everyone would arrive tomorrow for Thanksgiving and stay the night. Making sure each room had clean sheets and pillows for your guests. Distracted in cleaning you don’t hear the bunker Door open.

“Mama! I Home!” Luna runs into your arms giggling as she wraps her body around your.

“Hi baby girl, did you have fun at the park?” You ask her, her cheeks and nose slightly rosey. Adjust her so she’s sitting on your hip you walk out of the room to look for Dean.

“Yes! And buttercup plays me!” She tells you excitedly

“Let’s get you warmed up bug” you pour some milk into a mug heating it up in the microwave.

“Pizza delivery!” Dean says as he walks in dropping two large boxes on the table.

Pressing her cold hands onto your face Luna giggles as you gasp at the cold touch. Pouring the warm milk into a sippy cup for her you set her down in her chair, glaring slightly at your husband.

“What?” He says around a slice of pizza.

Saying nothing you grab plates for everyone and dish some for Luna. Sitting down next to her as Sam comes in to eat as welll.

Throughout dinner Luna had begun to start sneezing and sniffling and your husband still had yet to notice. This only added to your annoyance. Once Luna was finished she was basically half asleep. “Sam, could you put her to sleep please, I need to talk to Dean”

“Sure thing Y/n” Sam quickly lifts Luna from her seat bolting from the kitchen recognizing your tone.

“I’m sorry?” He asks unsure of why his wife was now pissed at him.

“Dean! She just got over the stomach bug and now she has a cold! You can’t keep her out so long especially without the right gear! Her hands were freezing cold!” You snap at him

“I’m sorry y/n, you know how much fun she has at the park and with the dog we just lost track of time. She seemed fine and I even made her wear a jacket. I’ll take care of this ok?” He holds your hand rubbing his thumb against you softly.

“Just, don’t it again please.” you say, the annoyance leaving you. “Let’s just go to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Standing up you put the leftovers in the fridge before walking to your room with Dean.

Dean sits you on the bed unzipping your shoes and rubbing your feet softly, moaning at the feeling you lay back closing your eyes and drifting to sleep.

Opening your eyes you feel Dean's lips on your neck “Morning baby” he says gruffly

“Mm” you smile rolling over on top of Dean, straddling his hips. “Good morning” you lean down kissing him. Your lips capture his in a fight for dominance.

“I could definitely get used to waking up like this” He smirks as you run your hand down his chest

“Can’t help myself, you’re just so damn irresistible Mr. Winchester” You lean down kissing his neck

He flips you over quickly pining you underneath him “Don’t start something you can’t finish baby” He runs his hand down your body kissing you all over

“We’ve got 15 minutes before she’s up” You gasp as he reaches your sweet spot

“That’s all I need” he smirks, pulling the sheets over your entangled bodies.

Chapter 3

Dean/Jensen Taglist:

@akshi8278 @hobby27

#dean x reader #dean winchester #supernatural fic #supernatural reader insert #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural #oh baby #series

51 notes · View notes

whatdoesshedotothem · 3 years ago

Text

Monday 6 August 1838

7 25

some minutes with A- till 8 – fine morning but brouillard low on mountains again – F69 ½° at 9 had Charles and Pierre – then chasseurs guides say that the prince de la Moscawa has engaged Cassos the Gèdre Vignemale guide to go to the top of that mountain on Thursday (the prince to sleep at Gavarnie on Wednesday night) be the weather fine or not – my 2 guides have hope that the weather will improve – at last fixed to go this afternoon – to leave here at 3 pm for the cabane – all 3 mounted and take Charles’ brother-in-law to bring back the horses and bring A- and then to meet us at Bouchero at 4pm on Wednesday – Breakfast at 9 ¼ to 11 A- read aloud the paper – strawberries, raspberries, and figs the 2 latter 1st time at breakfast and figs the 1st time of tasting them here – A- wrote copy of letter to Mr. SW. and I wrote on the 1st half of p. 1 of the sheet she is to write on, as follows –

‘Monday 6 August 1838. Pay to Mr. Samuel Washington a order two hundred pounds A. Lister

to the manager of the Yorkshire District Bank at Halifax

St. Sauveur. Hautes Pyrénées. France. Monday 6 August 1838.

Sir,

I send you as above, an order on the Yorkshire District Bank for two hundred pounds – you were right to pay William Mallinson whatever balance might be due to him, as I told him his bill should be paid out of the rent – Do what you think best about paying the small bills due to Messrs. Barber, Firth, and Keighley – as Mr. Greenwoods’ bill for papering at Northgate was not sent in when I left home, I do not know what is due to him on this account; but as he has chosen to begin paying himself out of his rent, I shall determine, on my return home, whether to let him go on doing so, or not – I am tired of laying out money on the Stump-cross Inn – but Mr. Harper may have a shade – I will have nothing to do with the new brewing pan –I was not prepared for being called upon to raise the brew house, which I therefore beg to decline for the present, whatever I may do hereafter – you had best see what the town will do for William Green – when he has done his own money, [?] him have half a crown a week till my return – I am, sir, etc. etc. A. Lister’

then wrote as under to ‘Mr. Mackean, Yorkshire District Bank, Halifax, Yorkshire, Angleterre’

‘St. Sauveur. Hautes Pyrénées. France. Monday 6 August 1838. Sir – I received your letter of the 7th ultimo on the 16th ultimo – you would receive on the 10th ultimo one hundred and sixty pounds on my account – I shall be at home, and will settle my account before Christmas – In the meantime, I shall be obliged to you to honour Mr. S. Washington’s drafts on my account to the amount of two hundred pounds – I am, sir, etc. etc. A. Lister’ – leave these two letters with A- to go by tonights’ post – had just written them, and so far of today besides listening to A-‘s letters (she is writing to her sister) till now 1 5 pm – did up my things – take my tartan cloak my Charles cape and jacket – and in my travelling bag a night chemise and one day ditto 1 pair large grey woollen stockings and 100fr. tied up and put in one of the stockings and 2 pair gloves and 1 pocket handkerchief and tooth brush, soap, comb, needle and thread, and stiletto all on one parcel tied up in a sheet of large whitey brown paper and then in a towel – and also in my bag 1 pair shoes and gaiters – nothing else but what I have on – my merinos gown and 2 white petticoats etc. pair of new strong St. Sauveur shoes, cotton socks and spun silk black stockings legs – a night cap in my pocket and pair of socks and pocket handkerchief and one silk handkerchief in my breast and ½ silk ditto and a sheet of paper in my hat – just written so far at 2 55 when the horses came – off at 3 35 – Charles and Pierre and I all mounted – at the Pont de Sia at 4 ¼ - at the pont de [Douroncate] in 20 minutes more at 4 35 – had passed the bridge and was out of Gèdre at 5 20 – sent the guides on before and alighted for a minute at 5 55 in the chaos and at the Inn at Gavarnie at 6 ½ I did not alight but waited ¼ hour at the door while Charles borrowed 2 pair crampons at 1/. per day each and 2 bâtons ferrés at 1/. each per day, the wife of Cazos [Cassos] having unexpectedly told Charles in passing thro’ Gèdre to provide us with these articles – How is this? Cazos declared on the Piméné and since we had neither glacier nor snow to pass – Charles had luckily bought a light baton ferré for me thinking it might help me and A- had persisted in my having my crampons (these I got for Mt. Perdu in 1830) with me, I nothing loth – off from Gavarnie at 6 ¾ - toujours brouillard, but otherwise fine – at the cabane de Saoussats Dabattes at 8 5 – Cazos and Charles’ brother-in-law had arrived at the cabane just before us, having come direct from Gèdre – we had just got a glimpse of them on the other side the gave as we rode along – our provisions that we had brought were [mine] a lbs. roll put with my little bundle in the sack de nuit bought in Paris for our night things – 2 biscuits in the breast of my dress, 2 hardboiled eggs in Charles’ waistcoat pocket, and my small Swiss Chamouni [Chamonix] guide full of brandy slung over Charles’ shoulder – the guides’ provisions lbs. bread (white like mine) ./70 a leather bottle of white wine ./70 for the bergers to drink of as Charles said and lb, fromàge ./40 and this I had added a bottle 3/. of the best eau-de-vie (the same as that I had for myself) our pharmacien had in his shop – I had in my little bundle 1 chemise and 1 night ditto and 1 pocket handkerchief, and 2 pair gloves, and 1 pair large grey woollen stockings in the foot of one of which a small parcel containing 100/. in five franc pieces, besides which I had about 50/. in my pocket – and I had also 1 pair lightish shoes and gaiters in the sac de nuit which was done up with my Charles jacket in my Charles cape and strapped on my horse behind me – my Maclean tartan cloak tied up and hung on my saddle crutch, or on my back, or carried for and with me everywhere – I was dressed as I have been ever since my arrival here – for riding – and as I was when I ascended the Mt. Perdu – flannel waistcoat and drawers and light small merinos loose sleeves (as for the last 20 years) chemise, stays, short cambric muslin under petticoat – ditto ditto upper ditto over which striped jaconot waist with high collar and long sleeves – broad hammed 3 frilled muslin ficher – and over this double muslin handkerchief and double dark silk ditto and then my black merinos dress lightly ouattée [ouatée] and doublée de persienne, and besides, loose white cambric muslin sleeves sewed into the sleeves of the dress for cleanliness – as usual – and a double lined with persienne pelerine to the dress, and crossed over my chest a light black china crape shawl – I had had (as on going to Mt. P-) tape loops put round the bottom of my dress and string at the top, and just before setting off, had my dress tied up all round me to just about or above the knee – I wore white cotton socks and black spun silk legs with tape straps, and strong leather ¼ boot shoes with nails in (made here for the purpose) and black satin gaiters – I had my white cotton night cap in my pocket and my claps-knive of London 1826 – I had in my breast pockets a pair of cotton socks, a whole black twilled silk handkerchief, and ½ a light coloured foulard (the one I went to the top of Ben nevis in 1828) and Charpentiers’ map of the Pyrenees, and my little note rough book containing my passport – yet I was lighter equipped and my heart was light but for the thought that I had left poor A- dull and perhaps anxious about me for my own and what I was going to attempt – she thought perhaps that I had not been free from biliousness and vertiges for many days, and perhaps she fidgeted about me – but Charles’ brother-in-law is to be back with the horses and see her tomorrow evening and bring her to meet me at Bouchero on Wednesday – the vale d’Ossōnne a fine savage valley – but latterly too dark for me to know much or see much of what I was passing – we had scarcely entered the cabane before the fire was made and pâte set on – it might be about an hour before all huddled in round the pâte-pan – ten of us 5 bergers and our 5 selves including Cazos and Charles’ brother-in-law – I declined assisting at the pâte but ate 1/3 of my roll and drunk a little cold new milk and then lay down about ½ hour before the rest – I lay in my tartan cloak and wrapped in my cape upon a couple of the bergers’ capes and my Charles jacket stuffed between me and the big granite-stone forming the far end of the cabane – my sack de nuit

SH:7/ML/E/21/0161

was my pillow aided by one of the bergers goat-skins bags in which they keep their cloche and provision of bread and meal (bled du turquie meal for pâte) – not comfortable enough to cheat one into sleep – it might be about 10 when all were lain down in 2 rows – head to foot – so crowded no room to stir – cabane hardly 5 yards by 2 – awoke at 11 50 – lighted candle and looked at my watch – I should have been glad to be off – but Cazos said il faisait trop nuit

3 notes · View notes

bad-at-names-and-faces · 4 years ago

Text

Epilogue

chapter 34

chapter index

December 1st, 1864

Dear Inga,

I’ll be mailing this letter when we arrive in Portsmouth tomorrow. I can’t believe it’s December already. The weather is so mild this far south, though I never would have guessed we’d see any nice weather on this trip, as rough as the waters were in the North Sea. To think, there was already snow on the ground when we left Arendelle last week!

I would really like to stay in England long enough to see some of the country, but we’ll be booking passage on the first steamship out. I suppose I should look on the bright side, that we’ll be settled by the new year. A friend of Father’s has arranged for us to stay with his family for Christmas, so I don’t need to worry about doing anything for that. I hope the holiday preparations are going well in Arendelle, though I am very sad to be missing it.

With love,

Elizabeth

P.S. I just want to thank you all again for the wonderful party before we left Arendelle. I’m sure you’ll object again that it was mostly Halima’s work, but it was so nice to see everyone there.

Elizabeth sighed, looking out the porthole of their cabin at the distant lights on the coast of England as they sailed along. Normally, she didn’t mind sailing, but this trip felt so terribly bittersweet. There were so many possibilities where they were going, and she would see so many things that she had only read about, but she had really started to feel at home during those few brief months she had been in Arendelle.

“We’ll have an early morning,” Lars reminded her as he finished changing, “please come to bed.”

“I haven’t written to your mother yet,” she smiled. “I thought of some things I forgot to ask her to bring with her from Corona.”

“She’ll be in Arendelle for another month; you can write from the inn tomorrow.”

“I am feeling rather tired,” Elizabeth admitted, turning down the lamp as she walked to the bed.

***

Lars dressed and quietly left the bedroom. A cold sleet was coming down outside, but the kitchen was warm. It had been fairly mild when they first arrived in Boston more than a month before, and Elizabeth had been convinced there wouldn't be a real winter, but they had a thick layer of snow for Christmas, and the temperature had been below freezing nearly every morning for several weeks.

Susan, the girl they had hired to help around the house, had already arrived, and she had even prepared some coffee for Lars to drink before he left for the stable. It wasn’t that long of a ride to the office they had rented, but the sleet made every minute feel like an hour. There was almost no work so far, but the assistant keeping up the office in Washington had started forwarding all of the mail, which mostly consisted of a handful of applications for Arendelle travel visas. The previous evening’s mail had been brought in, and there were a few official notices, plus the bundle that had been forwarded, and finally he noticed a letter personally addressed to himself, and opened it.

January 7th, 1865

Dear Lars,

Inga told me that Elizabeth has been writing, and I realized that you’re only getting official correspondence from us right now, so I thought I’d fix that. I can’t say I’m as good at writing personal letters as my sister, but I hope you don’t mind getting another letter. I won’t bore you with official updates and announcements, since I know we send them to everyone.

There was a lot of snow last night, and everyone was outside enjoying it all morning, then we all packed into Hudson’s to warm up, then back out. Do you get snow there? I know it’s much further south where you are. If you’re not too busy, write back, because I’m curious what they actually have you doing there.

The week after Christmas was quiet, with no business and just the family at the castle. Things are picking up again this week, but Father is going to be taking me, Anton, and Peder up to the mountains for the first ice harvest in another week. We’ll only be staying a week or two up there, and then the rest of the winter I’ll have to spend most of my time with the tutors if I want to be allowed to do the naval training trip in the spring.

Stay well!

Frederick

Lars placed the letter in his bag. Elizabeth would like to read it, and Frederick hadn’t included anything that he would mind being shared, and he’d write back after dinner and send it out in the morning’s mail.

***

Elizabeth looked up. “A valentine? Lars, you didn’t have to get me anything!”

“There was a shop full of them, I couldn’t help it,” he laughed, sitting down next to her on the sofa.

“But,” she sighed, “I have nothing for you.”

“Of course you do,” he replied, kissing her forehead.

“What do you mean?” she asked blankly, then looked up at him and got his meaning. “Oh!” she giggled, lightly punching him.

***

Elizabeth looked up from the letter she was reading out loud, and sighed. “This is dated two weeks ago, so Inga must already be up North. She promises she’ll write to me when she gets back to Arendelle next month, but she didn’t say whether she’ll get any letters up there.”

Lars nodded. “It won’t hurt to write, if you want to. Is it any different from writing to your father while he’s at sea?”

“That’s true,” she smiled, looking out the bedroom window. She set the letter on the nightstand and started fastening the front of her corset as Lars began to help with the back. Today was the first day of spring. It was still chilly, and the locals said it was likely to stay so through most of April, but at least the sun was up early. Elizabeth had again started waking up at the same time as he woke up, so he no longer had to leave the house while she was still asleep.

“I got a telegraph from Mother,” Lars said as he gingerly laced the back of her corset, “and she’s on a steamship arriving next week.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful news!” Elizabeth smiled, “she’ll be here for your birthday, too!”

“Yes,” Lars replied quietly, gently tying a bow at the bottom.

“Are you sure you can’t get it a little tighter?” she pouted.

“Absolutely not,” he chided her, holding her shoulders and kissing her cheek. “It’s not going to fall off, and…”

“I know, I know,” she sighed.

***

April 25th, 1865

Dear Inga,

How are you doing? I feel very restless right now, and I hope you don’t mind that I don’t want to talk about anything serious, because around here they’re only talking about the President’s funeral and all that horrible business.

On that note, Lars has carried the letters from your family on his trip to the capital. He’s missing his own birthday, though of course it’s perfectly understandable. It’s only me and his mother right now, though Susan still comes in during the day to help out. Lars should be back in a day or two, and we’ll celebrate then, but I do feel bad, since he’s twenty-one now. This evening I made his mother tell me stories about him as a child, and it sounded delightful. I tried to ask about the day he was born, but she said she was too tired and that I should be getting more sleep. Obviously, I didn’t mean about Lars in particular, just in general. I’ll need to know what it’s like eventually, right? She knows this, and I suppose she doesn’t want to scare me with details right now. I’m sorry I’m being so vague. But, she’s certainly right that I should get some sleep while I can. I hope everything is well with everyone there.

With Love,

Elizabeth

***

“Elizabeth, have we met a Mr. Curtis?” Lars asked, looking at the envelope that had come in the mail.

“No, you haven’t met him,” Elizabeth said casually, looking up from the sofa. “I haven’t met him, either, exactly, but I wrote to him while you were gone last month. He’s a ship builder, and you were talking about contracting with ship builders here.”

“Oh,” Lars hesitated, “I did say I would do that, didn’t I?”

“Do you mind that I did? I’m sorry I forgot to tell you, but so much was going on.”

“Not at all,” he said as he opened the envelope, “and it looks like he wants to have us over. You’ll need to come with me, of course, to keep me from looking like an idiot.”

Elizabeth smiled, looking out the window. “Oh, good, your mother is home from visiting Mrs. Wirth.”

0o0o0

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Lars asked as they came to the large lawn of Mr. Curtis’s house. “It’s rather hot today, and I really don’t want you-”

“Your mother is here, and there are plenty of seats in the shade. It’s not like I’m going to be on a train for twenty hours like you’ve been doing lately.”

“True,” he replied, “and I promise I won’t be away from you this summer. At any rate, please don’t feel the need to act as a hostess today. That’s for Mrs. Curtis to take care of. We’ve given them a contract for a new ship, and they’re throwing a party in honor of the Queen’s birthday.”

“So that’s already been approved? The contract?”

“It’s in transit. The sooner Mr. Curtis gets started, the sooner Arendelle can have the ship. We’ll worry about the details later.”

***

July 20th, 1865

Dear Inga,

We received the invitation to your birthday party next month. It sounds like a wonderful day you have planned. Obviously, we can’t be there, but hopefully we’ll be able to send you good news before then. As always, I look forward to your letters.

I wish I could travel back there for the summer. The weather last summer was so pleasant, but it has been so unbearably hot and humid here. Our neighbors all seem to be traveling to the shore or the mountains, but Lars is worried about being too far away from a doctor right now, and he assures me it’s worse in the city at his office, so in the meantime I’ve spent most my time in recent weeks in the shade in our yard.

With Love,

Elizabeth

***

The baby was cooing softly in Elizabeth’s arms when Margit Nilsen quietly entered the bedroom. The afternoon sunlight was peaking through the curtains, keeping the room from being completely dark.

“I have so many letters to write,” Elizabeth fretted from the bed, “as soon as the baby’s asleep, I want to get up.”

“You still need your rest,” her mother-in-law scolded her. “Lars will write to everyone, don’t worry. Nobody expects you to be writing letters yourself so soon.”

“It’s been three weeks,” Elizabeth sighed.

Soon, the baby was asleep, and her mother-in-law gently picked him up and set him in the cradle in the corner. “There, dear, now you should rest, too.”

“I’m going to get up in just a minute,” Elizabeth protested, closing her eyes for just a moment before falling into a deep sleep.

Margit quietly closed the door and sat down next to Lars at the table.

“You’re going to tell me I should sleep, too, aren’t you?” Lars sighed.

“If you’re tired, you should,” she told him, “but, no, that wasn’t what I was going to say.”

He looked up.

“You still haven’t told her about Anna, have you?”

***

“We missed your birthday, but we can have a party on your anniversary!” Lars’s mother announced as he returned home from his office. Elizabeth had dressed up and tried something new with her hair, which Lars thought looked rather nice on her, and the baby was asleep in the cradle.

“I hope you didn’t think I’d forgotten when you left this morning,” Elizabeth smiled.

“I... I’m going to pretend that I remembered what day it was today,” Lars laughed, coming over to sit next to her.

His mother went into the kitchen to check on how dinner was coming along, leaving the two of them alone.

“I didn’t get you anything,” Lars confessed, “I really wasn’t kidding that I forgot what day it was. I’m sorry.”

“You have a lot going on now,” Elizabeth reassured him, touching his cheek. “Remember, you can tell me anything.”

***

October 2nd, 1865

Dear Lars,

Sorry I haven’t written in a while, but Inga has been telling me that you’re all doing well. I know you’re probably tired, Mother and Father always are with a new baby. Everything is fine here, basically. We’re supposed to be getting another visit from a certain person from Corona in a few days, but I’m not sure if I’m supposed to tell you that. It’s not an official visit.

Anyhow, I said I wouldn’t bore you with official announcements, but you probably saw that they’ll be sending me to the naval academy in Corona at some point, but nobody can agree when. Our Admiral says he would be perfectly happy to set up an academy here, but obviously that would take a while, and there are only a few of us right now.

I’ll stop here because I’m sure you’re quite busy.

Stay well!

Frederick

***

Elizabeth sat with the baby in the chair by the front window watching the first snow of the season, thinking about how it was almost December again, and they had left Arendelle a year before. The baby was fast asleep, but she was comfortable and he was warm, and she felt no need to move.

Her mother-in-law brought her a cup of tea, then poured one for Lars, sitting down next to him at the table. They could hear Susan in the kitchen preparing something for dinner. Lars sat reading the evening paper, and finishing the front page, did his best not to make noise turning to the second page, since the baby would nearly always wake up if the paper rustled. He started to take a sip from his cup while he was reading, but set it back down abruptly and stared at the page, whispering something to his mother, who looked surprised.

"What is it, Lars?" Elizabeth asked, briefly glancing over, then returning her attention to the snow and the sleeping baby. Lars handed the folded newspaper to his mother, who brought it over to her.

Elizabeth took the paper, and skimmed over a few headlines about nothing astounding, then gasped, stopping herself before the baby stirred.

“Inga said there might be news soon, but nothing about marriage- did you know anything?”

"I thought I might hear something about their officially courting, certainly, or maybe even an engagement,” he muttered. “I suppose I’ll see tomorrow if any messages arrived since I left this afternoon, but they completely ignored any suggestions about getting a telegraph set up. I dropped the topic this summer since it just sounded like I wanted faster congratulations about the baby.”

Elizabeth stood up, handing the baby to her mother-in-law. “I need to write to her!”

***

Lars sat down at his desk, opening the diary to December 15th. He realized that it had now been one year since they’d arrived here. He was growing to like this office, but there was increasing pressure to move everything back to the capital now that things were settling down. He would need to consider that carefully: he could always spend time on the train, traveling back and forth, or they could all move South, and spend less time apart. But then he remembered the constant threat of malaria, and what if there was another outbreak of Yellow Fever? That wouldn’t do at all.

He heard someone ring the bell at the front door, and he got up to answer it himself. With all the uncertainty about whether this office would be permanent, he had never hired an assistant, but there were so few interruptions that it really didn’t matter.

Opening the door, he saw a young man in a heavy winter coat, thick hat, gloves and scarf, even though the weather had gotten mild again for the last week or two.

“Hello, I’m looking for the Ambassador.” The young man spoke through his scarf, looking directly at Lars with dark brown eyes that almost matched the bridge of his nose.

“I’m the Ambassador,” Lars informed him.

“Oh! I’m sorry… am I supposed to call you Your Excellency? I think that's what I read.”

“Just call me Mr. Nilsen,” Lars laughed, remembering how fastidious he had been with titles not that long ago. “Come inside. You’re not from around here, are you?”

“No,” he said, coming inside. He rubbed his chapped hands after he’d stuffed his gloves in his coat pockets, “in fact, I only got off the train two days ago. First thing I bought was this coat. I’m not used to cold weather.”

“Where are you from?”

“Louisiana,” he explained, finally taking his scarf off, “and now you’re probably going to laugh at me for wanting to visit Arendelle if I can’t handle the cold.”

“It’s quite pleasant there in the summer,” Lars offered, “but you do have me curious.”

“Well, I’ve always heard stories about it, and I started saving up my money while New Orleans was occupied, doing any odd jobs that I could. And now, I’m ready for an adventure, just for myself. A few of my cousins went out west this summer, but I wanted something different.”

“I hadn’t realized the stories of Arendelle were that widely known,” Lars admitted, “but I’d be happy to get you set up with a travel visa, and answer any questions you have.” He motioned for the man to sit down next to his desk.

“Thank you, Mr. Nilsen,” he said, taking a seat, still wearing his coat and hat. “I found a few books at the library yesterday, but I’m sure they don’t tell the whole story. The books certainly told a different story than the ones I heard from the master’s family.”

“Oh?” Lars said, retrieving the papers from his desk. The man seemed amiable enough, and Lars was interested in hearing some more about his interest in Arendelle. He hadn’t even mentioned the fjords. The handful of people he’d seen so far coming in person for visas had talked about nothing else. Besides, Lars didn’t get much conversation when he was at work these days. “Were they…were they from Arendelle?”

“Oh, no,” he laughed, “in fact, I didn’t really hear any nice things about Arendelle from them, but that makes me all the more curious to see the place for myself.”

“It’s a beautiful place,” Lars said, half listening as he started to organize the paperwork for a travel visa. He glanced at the first space on the form. “I’m sorry, I realize I never asked you your name.”

“Right, you’ll need that,” he smiled, “John Westergard.”

Lars felt his stomach drop. It could be chance. It could be anyone. He needed to keep calm.

“Westergard?” Lars tried not to be obvious as he looked the other man up and down. There was no resemblance, not even some quirk of his nose or the shape of his earlobe, to any member of the royal family of the Southern Isles. But the name, still, the name must have an explanation. “That’s an unusual name…”

“I’ve been thinking about changing it. It’s not really my name, you know how it is.”

#my fic #kristanna #the young diplomat #epilogue

12 notes · View notes

bambigoose · 5 years ago

Text

Puppy Love - Tyler Seguin

The iron gates look like something straight out of the medieval ages, the intricate detailing never fails to take Mia’s breath away during the day despite their imposing stature. She’d moved into this community by per chance a little over a month ago and the judgmental stare of Mrs. Fredrick glaring at her currently stopped being intimidating on day one. That miserable old women had no problem letting Mia know she didn’t belong, not like she needed to be told, her older Chevy Equinox stuck out like a sore thumb in a neighborhood of range rovers, Cadillacs, and even a few Ferraris. Mia however knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Her mother was an angel and let her live with her until she was twenty six while she was working the nurse supervisor third shift at the hospital, paying off her student loans, and saving every cent she could with hopes of being able to buy a condo. Mia paid rent of course but it was about half of what she would have paid anywhere else.

Five months ago while searching on Zillow, in bed trying to fall asleep after her shift, her house popped up. It had been posted eight minutes ago and she immediately requested a showing saying she could do it that day while shouting for her mom to call out sick and come with her.

Four hours later, Mia was in love. It was a perfect little two bedroom house with an extra room in the basement that could make it three. Her mom had turned the house upside down searching for a reason it was on the market so cheap besides the fact it was about four times smaller than the average house on the street. Finding nothing despite checking every crack and crevice throughout the entire house, both Mia and her mom had their excitement grow. While having a discussion with the relator about the previous owner who passed suddenly at their summer home in Minnesota and their children were just trying to close everything quickly. Mia immediately put in the offer.

She met Mrs. Fredrick three weeks later while the woman continually walked her fancy poodle with her nose in the air around the entire street. Clearly she had less of a problem with the people moving in a little further down the street on the same day. Clearly they had money, based on the two moving trucks and friends luxury cars helping them move in. Of course according to Mrs. Fredrick his ugly dogs would be a problem in the neighborhood, but that was minimal crime compared to Mia moving in with only her three best friend’s and mother’s older cars. Her nose went even higher seeing them unload a lawn mower, “You’re lawn will never meet the standards of the neighborhood.” The evil witch of the west finally disappeared after Mia just shrugged and stared her down.

Now she just took satisfaction watching her face scrunch up every time she pulled through and waved at her. She could only imagine the rumors she spreads about her being gone all night long most times. Pulling into her driveway, with her decently up kept lawn, Mia placed her head on the steering wheel and sighed. It was a long shift last night and in typical fashion she put off grocery shopping until the very last minute, forcing herself to have to go this morning in order to eat at some point today.

Stepping out of her car, Mia mentally debated whether to just lie down on the couch in her scrubs or expend the energy to walk upstairs to her bed and change into sweats. Opening her trunk, sleeping on the couch was looking even more appealing staring at all her bags. Resigning herself to making multiple trips, she headed in with the first one full of frozen foods, a habit ingrained in her by her mom. ‘Don’t let the frozen go bad in all this heat.’

On her return to the car she thought she could hear jingling as she past the driver’s door but she wrote it off. Turning around the tail end she was greeted by a chocolate lab whitening around his nose and tail wagging a mile a minute in her trunk laying on the cool spot where the frozen food was had just been.

Mia melted on the spot. “Hi baby! Where’d you come from?” She asked leaning down accepting the slobbering kisses all over her face. Her Golden Retriever used to do the same thing before he pasted, if someone opened a car door while he was outside he’d jump right on in. “Where’s your family buddy?” Pushing down a little hard while rubbing his ears, she got an even more enthusiastic tail wag and a tongue rolling out of his mouth.

“CASH! Where are you buddy?”

She heard shouted out from up the street, as his ears perked up. “Cash, is that your name buddy?” Getting one last lick he took up off the street, “Bye bud!” Mia laughed grabbing the last of her groceries before slamming her trunk door shut.

Daylight savings was the ban of Mia’s existence. All she saw was darkness during the winter months; she might as well as move to Alaska with their twenty-one hours of darkness. A surprising winter blast had hit Dallas the past few days in October so she took a deep breath bundled up in a sweatshirt and scarf. All her winter clothes were still in the attic and she couldn’t convince herself to pull them down just for a few days.

Closing and locking her door she headed out into her usually abandoned street. Tonight though she could hear whispering toward the end of her driveway, “Gerry you gotta calm down bud, how are you still this hyper.” Looking up she could spot a man in what looked like a suit with a dog walking across the street from her house. The dog appeared to be dragging him along popping from flower bed to flower bed smelling everything. Mia giggled quietly to herself, unlocking her car. The click and lights turning on brought their attention to her.

The dog was clearly an excitable yellow lab, Gerry she believed it was called. The tail was wagging so hard she wouldn’t be surprised if his handsome suited owner would have a bruise on his knee tomorrow morning. “Gerry no.” The command was useless, Gerry had already taken off across the street at her legs, his poor owner practically running in order to not end up face planting on the ground.

Mia dropped to her knees and readily accepted the puppy loving. The lab was so excited he was bouncing in place, weaving in between her legs before settling on her feet, head leaned back against her knee with the puppy dog eyes. She continually waved off the apologizes his owner was giving. “Hello love! Aren’t you just the most adorable puppy ever?” Scratching up and down his sides the lab start talking to her. Little yelps and excited yips coming out of him each time she rubbed him down. “Shh… gotta be quiet buddy. Mrs. Fredrick will come out and yell at me and your dad. She already hates me enough as it is.”

“Ahh… you’ve met the wicked witch too”came from the suited man, mischief shining in his eyes eliminated by the street light. Sharing a laugh he reached out with his hand extended, “I’m Tyler.”

“Mia. Would it be offend you to know I prepare to refer to you as the puppy father?”

Surprised laughter left Tyler, his eyes crinkling while his face scrunched up. Mia dropped his hand, not realizing how long she had been holding on. Last thing she ever wanted to do was make someone uncomfortable like that, her anxiety was rising just thinking about it. “Well I’ll just have to refer to you as the beautiful nurse.” He says pointing to her ID badge.

“Your daddy is a flirt Gerry.” She says leaning back down to his level getting a slobbering lick all up her face. “Your dogs clearly enjoy slobbering all over me.” She laughed.

“Dogs?” Tyler questioned, trying to think back if he had meet the cute neighbor before. The boys commented on her every time they saw her. The yard work in the yoga shorts and tank top was a particular favorite of the team, especially when working on her flower beds.

She looked up at him locking eyes, “Yes, Cash visited the trunk of my car just last week.”

Tyler went white, he was sure Cash had only taken off into the woods a bit, not all the way down the street and into someone else’s car. “I am so sorry. I can’t believe he…”

Mia cut him off, “Oh he was a love. Not to worry, my last name isn’t Fredrick, your cute dogs and their puppy loving kept you out of trouble.”

Tyler smirked, “Will the cute dogs and puppy loving be enough to get me a date with the pretty nurse?”

Mia looked down towards Gerry, “I don’t know buddy, should I go on a date with your daddy?” Unbeknownst to Mia, Tyler was actively regretting not listening to Jamie and teaching his dogs silent commands. He was banking on Gerry’s excitement and mentally promising him treats should he get him this date. His hopping paid off, Gerry licked her in the face. “I think that means yes.” Mia laughed. “Well puppy father, my next day off is Thursday, but you have a game the next night. Would it work if we do something before your curfew?”

Tyler’s eyes widened like saucers. “You know who I am?”

“If by that you mean know you’re the man with a ton of puppies that lives up the street and happens to be particularly skilled in hockey, then yes but I mean everyone has to be good at something right?”

Tyler release a breath, “And what are you particularly good at?” he joked.

“Loving on puppies, napping, and walking out on conversations so I’m not late for work.” She counted off on her fingers. “I’ll see you Friday?” she questioned.

Tyler smiled, “Come up around five? I’ll order us in something, that way you’ll stay for the entire time. Can’t disappoint the dogs by walking out on them.”

Mia beamed, “So what you really mean is I get to eat and go on a date with the puppies. You clearly know that way to a ladies heart sir.” She scratched behind Gerry’s ears “I’ll see you and your brothers on Friday for our date buddy and I guess we’ll let your dad tag along.” She waved goodbye, hopping into her car and reversing out of the driveway. Tyler watched her go until the tail lights disappeared.

Mia was finishing up her yard work Friday afternoon, she checked the clock sighing, there was about fifteen minutes before she needed to head in and shower for her date with Tyler tonight. She ran into him the next day and numbers were exchanged. They had been talking all week, him sending her different pictures of the dogs every day with reminders not to disappoint them and Mia was excited for tonight.

She grabbed her water and sat down on her steps with her eyes closed and face turned to the sun basking in the warmth. After a moment she felt something wet against her knee. Eyes opening she laughed seeing Marshall, the only Seguin dog she had yet to meet at her feet. “Did your dad send you down here to remind me about tonight huh?” She leaned forward and scratched behind his ears. Marshall galloped up the stairs and leaned against her side, “You’re just a cuddle bug, those young ones trying you out buddy.”

Throwing her arm around Marshall she pulled out her phone, muting the music and opening the camera. She flipped the camera around and snapped a quick shot of them. Sending it to Tyler Lost dog?

Jesus, I’ll come down and get him.

Petting his side Mia looked at Marshall, “You wanna go home buddy or should I tell your dad I’m stealing you?” Marshall shook out his body and leaned heavily against her. Mia chuckled, “Staying with me then I guess.”

Nope. He’s mine now. He’ll escort me to yours later :P

You’re trying to steal my children.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“Come on buddy. Let’s get cool inside the house yeah?” Mia called standing up, Marshall following behind her closely. He was practically attached to her hip. She almost tripped over him heading up the stairs. Sitting down on the edge of her bed she tapped the side next to her. Needing no further invitation Marshall hopped up and curled up almost in her lap. “You keep doing this I’m going to call you cuddle bug.”

Slipping out from underneath Marshall she gave him another ear scratch before heading into her bathroom. She made sure the doors to both rooms stayed open in case Marshall changed his mind and wanted to get her attention to leave. She showered quickly, debating what to wear throughout the duration. It was a first date but it was also only at his house. Her anxiety was spiking slightly in worry. Taking a deep breath she told herself he thought you were cute in baggy ugly scrubs everything else you own is better than those.

Rubbing a towel through her hair, Mia throw it up into a messy bun before brushing her teeth. Deciding just to do light makeup she was finished in just a few minutes. Returning to her room in order to check in her friend she paused in the doorway smiling. People say depressed people tend to have more blankets and pillows on their bed, in which place she must be denying the truth but Marshall does not seem to mind at all. He had all but tucked himself under her fluffy blanket, leaning up against her pillows with the ceiling fan circling slowly above him. He raised his head to look at her with a tiny tail wag when she headed to her dresser. "What should I wear cuddle bug?" Marshall was zero help, he just continued to sit there staring at her.

"So jeans and a tshirt with a pullover sweater sounds good then." Slipping into her clothes she nudged Marshall off the bed. "Let's go cuddle bug. Time to see daddy and your brothers." Mia would swear she saw Marshall sigh the same way older siblings do when resigning themselves to watching their little siblings for the evening. The duo walked up the street together never further than three feet apart. That would continue throughout the rest of the night. Tyler had to fight the dogs in order to weasel his way next to Mia on the couch.

…..

Mia sighed pulling into her boyfriend's driveway. Tyler and her had seen even less of each other lately. The hospital had been all hands on deck as the flu ripped through the area leading to a higher than normal admit rate and the Stars were in the middle of the season. Tyler's coach had harshly called out him and Jamie not to long ago so they were practically killing themselves at the practice rink.

Tyler had tonight off and Mia felt awful cancelling their plans to go out at the last minute but truthfully Tyler was relieved. Both of them could use a night on the couch with the dogs and food brought to them.

Turning off the engine, Mia waved to Mrs. Fredrick who of course was even more disgusted with her and Tyler now that the were dating and committing sins staying at each other's houses most nights. As per usual Mrs. Fredrick stuck her nose back up in the air huffing away with her miserable poodle.

Unlocking the door Mia laughed hearing thuds through the hallway. Pulling her phone out from the back pocket of her scrubs she started recording. The post on Instagram was the most liked of the year. Tyler and the dogs rushing down the hallway all but tripping over each other was one of the most hilarious things she had seen in a long time. The best response to her caption which puppy missed me more was Jamie's posted seconds after it went up.

The one with two legs.

#nhl imagines #nhl imagine #nhl fic #nhl hockey #tyler seguin #tyler seguin imagine #dallas stars #dallas stars imagine #hockey writing #hockey fanfiction #hockey imagines

204 notes · View notes

prince-dongju · 5 years ago

Text

Runaway Prince

Prince! Seonghwa x Reader

Words: 7.1k (I got a little carried away)

Fluff, a lil angst but a happy ending. The ending gets cheesy, like really cheesy

Summary: When a handsome stranger shows up at your house, you take him in out of the kindness of your heart. What you didn’t know was how big of a turn your life would take as you grow closer.

@shikyus… I finally posted it!!

It was a Thursday when he showed up, a tumultuous night filled with wailing wind and scattered thunderstorms. Claps of thunder and pouring rain caused a massive power outage, shunting the warmth from your apartment. Curling deeper into the sheets on your bed, you burrowed further into your hoodie. A sudden knocking at your door nearly made you jump out of your skin. Reluctantly, you left your warm cocoon to check who was at the door. Peeking through the peephole, you saw a man who you judged to be in his early twenties. His hair stuck in every direction, and his suit had probably seen better days. Shrugging your shoulders, you decided he looked pretty non threatening (and cute). Grabbing the handle, you opened the door.

“Hello.” He sounded confused, like he was fully expecting you to not answer.

“How can I help you?” You tried your best to keep your breathing steady, realizing that helping a complete stranger may not be such a good idea.

“I… um…,” He stuttered, looking at the floor nervously. “This is going to sound insane.”

“Try me.” Great. He’d probably been stalking you for months and had finally decided to talk to you.

“I need a place to stay for a week or two, just so I can get back on my feet.” You weren’t expecting this. Judging by his appearance, you thought he would be some playboy millionaire’s son living off of his father’s money. Why would he be knocking on doors looking for a place to stay?

You thought about his request for a moment. If he was looking to rob you, nothing you owned was of much worth. Why not? You made your decision.

“You’re just in luck. I’ve been looking for a roommate for a while now.” Okay, that was far from the truth, there was no way you could squash another person into your tiny studio apartment. “On one condition. You help out around the apartment.”

“Deal.” He smiled. A smile so bright and charming with teeth so bright he could outshine the sun. You almost forgot what you were talking about. “Can I um, come in then?”

“Oh, uh yeah.” You mentally slapped yourself for getting caught up in his smile and his deep, warm eyes.... Pushing the door open further, you let him step inside. The tour of your apartment only lasted about a minute, long enough to show him around the miniscule space.

“Would it be okay if I took a shower?” He seemed nervous with his request, like you would reject the possibility of him cleaning up.

“Of course. Let me find you something to wear.” Rifling through your closet, you found some clothes left by your ex. They seemed like they would fit so you decided to let him take them.

“Here.” Giving him the bundle of clothes, your hands brushed his and you pulled back immediately. “Take as long as you need.”

As the water rumbled through the pipes to fuel his shower, you plopped down on the couch. In a moment your life had turned around completely. You lived an average life, maybe partied with one or two friends on the weekend, nothing outrageous. Now you suddenly had an unidentified guest who would be sharing your living space. Your ex did tell you to be a little more spontaneous though, claiming that your inability to surprise him ultimately brought an end to your relationship. Pushing the thoughts from your head, you noticed the water had stopped running. When the man stepped through the door, he looked extremely uncomfortable. As if he had never worn sweatpants before.

“If you’re uncomfortable, I’m sure I could find you something else,” you said, turning to look for something else in your room.

“No no, It’s fine.” He smiled to show you he was okay. “Thank you for accommodating me. Your hospitality is much appreciated.”

How proper. Shaking it off, you nodded and smiled back. Now… where should he sleep? Looking around, you decided the couch would be the best option. The couch also happened to be only thirty feet away from your bed. You sure hoped your gut feeling about him was right, or you might end up with a knife in your chest. After setting up the couch for him to sleep on, you realized you had never asked for his name. Upon asking, you learned his name was Seonhwa. A fine name, elegant like the man himself. Once he was all settled, you turned off the lights and crawled back into bed.

“Goodnight, Seonghwa,” you whispered before falling into sleep’s comforting embrace.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Opening your eyes, you took in the light filtering through the curtains. Stretching your arms above your head, you looked around. Last night felt so long ago. As if it was a distant memory. You would have chalked it up to a wild dream if not for the mop of blonde hair curled up on your couch. Rolling out of bed, you got to work on breakfast. Although you were trying to be quiet, the banging of pots and pans eventually brought your guest back to consciousness. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he yawned deeply and sat up. Even though his hair looked like it had gone through a wind storm, you had to admit he was still extremely handsome. His posture was extremely straight, his back as stiff as a board. When you told him breakfast was ready, he stood and walked elegantly to the table. Never had you seen someone move with such grace in their step. Now you were starting to wonder just where he came from. Maybe he spent some time in a boarding school for elite children? One of those places where they teach snobby kids how to be even snobbier. He thanked you profusely for the meal, even if it was just a piece of toast with some bacon and scrambled eggs.

While you were finishing up your food, you decided to get some things out of the way.

“I work until seven tonight. I have Netflix on the television if you get bored. It would be nice if you could clean the place for me, though.”

His face lit up and he nodded eagerly before stopping himself and smiling a little. “I can do that. I am quite good at tidying up.”

“Okay…” You’d never seen someone so eager to clean. “Tomorrow I’m off, so I can take you to get some new clothes.”

He gave a slight nod. “Thank you so much for all you’ve done for me. You are truly the kindest person I have ever met.”

You thanked him for the compliment, but something about it made you think deeper on it. The kindest person he had ever met? He surely was just saying that. If this was the kindest someone had ever been to him, that was a little heartbreaking. From the few hours you had spent with him, he had been nothing but polite, to think that people were unkind to him made you feel a little sad. Shaking your head, you chastised yourself for thinking so deeply about a man you just met.

Checking the clock, you realized you were running a little late. “Crap! I’m going to be late.” You exclaimed, hopping up to quickly wash the dishes.

“Leave this. I can take care of it.” Looking up from the sink, you notice Seonghwa standing right beside you. Looking into your eyes with his comforting chocolate gaze, he gave a slight nod before motioning for you to head off to work.

“Thank you Seonghwa.” You muttered before sprinting out the door as fast as you could.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Work was a little hard to sit though. Your mind kept wandering back home to where Seonghwa was, doing heaven knows what in your apartment. Maybe leaving him alone was a bad idea. Mentally running through your apartment, you were confident you had hidden your important items. After hours of questioning just who this mysterious man was, the clock struck seven. Driving home was extremely nerve wracking. When you got home would your apartment be in one piece? Had he cleaned like you asked him to, or did he make a mess of the place? Turning your key in the lock was the scariest moment of your life. Steeling yourself with a deep breath, you pushed the door open and prayed for the best. The apartment was definitely not a mess. In fact, it was far from it. The windows were spotless, the counters sparkling, and… had the fan been dusted? You couldn’t remember the last time you had put so much effort into cleaning.

“What do you think?” Seonghwa quickly stood from his perch on the couch, looking at you like he was nervous of what you would say.

“Seonghwa! It’s amazing! You really are good at tidying up.” He smiled, his bright teeth glowing in the light of the room. “Thank you! Everyone at the pal- at home says I’m good at it. Come sit down. You’ve had a long day.” Guiding you to your own couch, he was ready to get you anything you needed. After draping a blanket across your legs, you offered to share it with him, smiling as he pressed closer to you. While watching an awfully cheesy comedy, you felt your eyelids growing droopy. Swaying back and forth on the couch, you tried to keep yourself awake. But it was no use. The day had taken a toll on you, leaving you exhausted. Noticing you were about to fall off the couch, Seonghwa gently directed you to lean back on the couch so you wouldn’t fall off and hurt yourself. When your head lolled to the side and landed on his shoulder he froze for a moment, unsure if he should let you stay or wake you up. He decided that you needed your sleep and let you be. Halfway through the second movie he caught the time on the clock and decided he should probably wake you up. Ever so gently, he shook your shoulder. When you yawned, he thought it might be the cutest yawn he had ever witnessed.

“You should get to bed.” He looked at the floor, a little shy at the thoughts running through his head.

“You’re right. Gotta get up early so we can go shopping before it gets too busy.” While you were waiting for your turn in the bathroom, you stared at the floor, deep in thought. A day ago you didn’t even know this man. Now you were falling asleep on his shoulder? What had come over you? One thing was certain, you felt really comfortable with him considering the fact that you had just met. Your thoughts were interrupted by Seonghwa softly calling your name.

“y/n?” looking up, you took in his appearance. His hair was perfectly styled, as if he was going out rather than to bed. Skin glowing, and eyebrows shaped beautifully, his visuals were perfect. Even the clothes you gave him last night fit him better than they did your ex who actually owned them. “I’m done.” his words knocked you out of your trance, and you turned your head to hide your blush.

In the morning you woke to the sound of the sink running. Looking over to the kitchen, you saw Seonghwa standing at the sink washing a few dishes. He noticed you were awake and gave you a warm smile. “I made breakfast for us.” His cooking was definitely better than you expected. Better than your own if you were being completely honest. Maybe letting him stay was a good thing. If he cooked like this all the time, you should keep him around. Conversation flowed easily as you walked down the street to the mall. It felt like you were talking to an old friend, making the time pass twice as fast.

He looked a little uncomfortable going out of the house in the outfit you had given him, but you promised him that you’d find him something better to wear in no time. You noticed he was extremely cautious, eyes flitting around as if he was afraid of someone seeing him.

You chalked it up to him just being embarrassed about the clothes and continued on your way. The first store you entered had a few clothes you suggested he try on. He seemed content with the clothing you picked out, thankful for something to wear. After a few stores you told him to pick out an outfit, telling him you’d buy it so he could wear it out of the store. Waiting for him to change, you were curious as to what he would pick out for himself. When he stepped out of the changing room, you were floored. He looked like he had stepped straight out of a Vogue photo shoot. Models couldn’t pull off the look as good as he did. A white star speckled blazer rested atop a plain black turtleneck. The pants,which were complete with holes in the knees, were also black and matched the shoes he wore.

Your jaw dropped before you could stop it, shaken over how effortlessly he pulled off the look.

“How do I look?” He asked. Upon seeing your reaction, he smiled a little, gaining some confidence.

“You look… you look good.” You managed to choke out.

He noticed a blush spreading across your face and smirked a bit. Where was this sudden confidence coming from? He had been extremely shy and reserved up until this point. “Let me pick out something for you.” Snapping your head up to look at him, you got a little shy. There’s no way you’d look as good as he did in whatever he picked out for you. He could easily obtain a spot in any modeling agency, but you… not so much.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“Please y/n. It’ll be fun” He took your hand and pulled you around the store, stopping at a rack of dresses. “This one.” He said, pointing to a tan and blue striped dress. Taking it off the rack, he placed it in your hands and gently guided you to the dressing rooms. After kicking off your clothes and reluctantly putting it on, you had to admit it looked kinda good on you. Taking a deep breath, you steadied yourself and pulled back the curtain to the room. His eyes flickered to you immediately and he straightened up from the counter he was resting on.

“Y/n…. you look. Wow.” The last word came out a little breathless as he stared at you, taking in your appearance. He knew he was staring, but he couldn’t help it. Not when you looked that good. Now it was his turn to blush. Chuckling, you give him a bright smile. You thanked him for picking it out for you, amazed at his fashion sense.

Once you had paid for the clothing, you decided to take him around the town. You learned that he wasn’t from around the area, he was just passing through. Conversation flowed easily again, and before long it was sunset. The whole day had passed so quickly, and you got a little sad at the thought of returning home. You suddenly became curious. Where was home for Seonghwa?

“Seonghwa. Where are you from?” His eyes left the sunset to rest on your face. Taking a moment to trace your features, he thought to himself.

His eyes held a sadness at the thought of the town he once called his own. “Somewhere special.”

Puzzled at his response, you let it go and watched the final swatch of pink fade from the sky.

“Do you want to go home? Maybe watch a movie or something?” You wanted to take the last few moments of the day to relax before you had to return to real life the next day. He agreed, and you took off towards your apartment complex.

“You sure do watch a lot of movies.” He teased with a grin.

“Hey. Movies take you places, to foreign lands and galaxies. Don’t judge me for wanting to escape reality every once in a while.” Your tone was light, but the smile fell from his face.

“Believe me. I can relate.”

Walking the rest of the way in an awkward silence, you thought about the sadness held in his words about his hometown. Now you were curious, but you didn't want to press him about it.

Turning on a cheesy chick flick, you tried to forget about all the questions running in your mind. One thing was for sure, Seonghwa made a pretty good friend and you were actually hoping that he would stick around in the city so you could see him after he left your place. Eventually, you drifted off to sleep. Watching movies late at night always had this effect on you. You could hardly stay awake once you pressed play.

Seonghwa smiled softly as your head found its way to his shoulder again. Carefully, he brushed a strand of hair away from your face. Looking at your resting face, he whispered to your sleeping form, “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you about me yet. I promise you I will tell you before I leave.” He didn’t bother to wake you this time, slipping his arm under your knees and the other behind your back. Carrying you bridal style to the bed, he placed you under the soft covers. Pulling the covers over your body, he whispered a soft ‘goodnight’ before turning off the light and making his way to the couch.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seonghwa had been with you for a week now. You had grown closer to him every day he was with you. It concerned you a little, knowing his stay was gradually progressing to the end. As the days went by, you learned more about him, his likes and dislikes. You learned he hated messy rooms and loved to clean. His cooking was phenomenal, and he always blushed a little when you complimented him on his cuisine. When you asked him to teach you how to be as good as him, he was so patient. Coaxing you along, he’d tell you which spices would work the best in each dish and gave you endless compliments till the end. You now knew he loved the color blue and when asked why, he said it reminded him of home. Then he’d stare off with that sad look in his eyes that always broke your heart a little.

Life had become a routine at this point, coming home to find him on the couch. Usually he prepared dinner or ordered take out, always having something ready for you when you arrived at home. You’d watch a movie or two with him, always falling asleep before it was finished. You had often pondered on why you couldn’t finish a movie. Maybe it was because you hated endings. If you were asleep you’d never have to witness the fantasy of the movie coming to an end. In the morning you either found yourself in your bed, or on the couch with your head on Seonghwa’s shoulder. When you found yourself in the later position, he would chuckle as you both awoke, brushing the hair away from your face as you helped him do the same.

With each passing day you found yourself falling for him a little more. At first you chalked it up to friendship. But the way he smiled at you had your heart pounding. It was also the little things he did for you, cleaning the apartment and picking up things from the local market that reminded him of you. All you could do was hope he felt the same, or pray that the feelings would leave quickly if he didn’t.

A few nights before a big evaluation at work, he’d offered to help take your mind off the stressful event. You were sure you’d never forget the way he made you laugh, eliminating your stress completely. Wrapping your fingers around a bottle of cheap liquor, you gazed at him through hooded eyes.

“Why are you staring at me?” Seonghwa playfully shoved your leg, giggling a little as he teased you.

A few sips later with your senses clouded further, you told him, “Nothing. You’re just gorgeous.” Resting your chin on your hand, you let out a long sigh. “It’s really unfair.”

Your admission brought a few chuckles from the male. “Me?” He scoffed a bit. “You’re the gorgeous one.” He may have slurred his words a bit, but he meant every one of them. And he hoped you understood that no matter what.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coming home after work the next night, you were greeted by the familiar blonde headed boy. He led you to the little dining area and showed you the meal he had prepared for you. It looked as if he had gone all out, digging the packed up wine glasses out of your cupboard. He even lit a few candles and placed them around the table. You told him that you had received a promotion at work and it seemed like this was his way of congratulating you.

Pulling out your chair, he helped you get seated before he walked to the other side of the table and sat himself.

“Congratulations on the promotion y/n.” He smiled brightly across the table at you.

Feeling your heart flip flop at his action, you smiled back. “Thank you Seonghwa.”

Dinner passed with casual conversation, but there was a heaviness evident between you. A tension in the room that was almost palpable. After the other night, something had changed between you two. Admitting to each other that you found the other very attractive could understandably change the relationship a bit.

Reaching across to wipe something from the corner of your mouth, he paused and looked in your eyes. Electricity crackled and the world stopped for a minute before your phone buzzed and you looked away. Shakily, you continued the conversation until it was time to clean up, avoiding the intensity of his gaze as you got up. You took to washing the dishes, trying to clear your head from whatever had happened earlier. To your surprise, a pair of arms encircled you, spinning you around in their embrace. Your hands came to grip his forearms, steadying yourself from the sudden action. Dazed, you looked up into Seonghwa’s eyes, the eyes you had grown to love after gazing at them for so many days. They were filled with something deeper now, a sense of desperation. The familiar scent of whatever cologne he wore invaded your senses, making your knees weak and voiding your head of all thoughts but those of him. Pushing even closer, his hands gripped at the edge of the counter behind you. Eyes flickering towards your lips, he moved his head even closer to yours. Noticing the way you froze up at his actions, he pulled back in embarrassment.

“I-I’m sorry y/n. I thought you felt the same way. I guess I was wrong.” He wouldn’t meet your eyes as he pulled away in embarrassment.

“Seonghwa, wait.” You brought your arms around his neck and pulled him back to you. “It’s just… I’m scared.” You confessed, looking into his eyes which were now laced with confusion.

“How so? Are you afraid of me?” The thought of you being fearful of him seemed to pain him.

“It’s not you, Hwa.” Letting out a soft sigh, you tried to calm the frantic pounding of your heart. “I’m afraid of how fast I’m falling.” The words were nothing more than a whisper, falling from your parted lips like a faint breeze.

Tilting your chin to maintain eye contact, his forehead gently met yours. “I feel the same way. But I don’t want to stop.” He moved forward now, wrapping his hands around your waist delicately as he tilted his head to the side. Lips pressing against yours softly, he let out a sigh of relief. As if he had been waiting for this moment. Tightening the grip you had on his neck, you pulled him closer, losing yourself in the feeling of his lips burning against yours. His mouth moved against yours slowly, savoring the way your lips felt on his. The way he kissed you left you breathless, somehow filling you up yet leaving you for want of more. After a few moments, he pulled back to leave a gentle kiss to the side of your jaw. Your eyes remained shut even after the loss of contact, trying to hold onto the way he made you feel for a moment more.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sitting on the couch the next night, you couldn’t help but feel that everything was right. You had never been so happy as you had been since Seonghwa came into your life a week ago. Had it really been that short? It felt like an eternity had passed.

It felt good to be in his arms, and he told you just the same. With one of his hands around your waist and the other carding through your hair, you had never felt so safe.

“y/n.” He looked you in the eyes. “I think I should tell you where I’m from now.”

You braced for the worst, waiting for him to tell you he grew up in prison.

“I’m actually not from around here. I grew up far away from here in a small country. But none of that matters anymore. All that matters is that I can never go back.” The familiar sadness upon mentioning his hometown was back. You wished you could take this pain from him and tell him that everything would be okay. On top of that, you were curious as to why he could never return home.

“Why is that Seonghwa? Why can’t you go back?” He turned to face you a little and looked you in the eyes.

“This may come as a bit of a shock, but I’m… I’m a prince. Or, I was”

Immediately after the words left his mouth, your jaw dropped wide open. No way. He was kidding you right? Princes only existed in fairytales and ancient monarchies, not in drabby one room apartments.

“I’m sorry… what?” He tucked a strand of hair behind your ear and continued with his explanation.

“My stepmother married my father when I was just a little boy. He was so blinded by his love for her that he didn’t notice how she truly was. She slowly took control of the country and by the time he realized, it was too late. I was never enough for her. One of the reasons she resented me so much was because I was not her own child. In the end, she… she killed him. She murdered her own husband and banished me for crimes I never committed.” A single tear rolled down his cheek, falling upon your intertwined fingers. “If only I was fast enough. I could have stopped it. I could have stopped it all. And I-I-” His words cut off as sobs wracked his body. Pulling his head to your chest, you held him close and rubbed his back as he cried. The pain he was experiencing sounded unimaginable. Whispering words of comfort, you felt your heart break for him, wishing you could carry some of his pain.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You awoke the next morning to sunlight streaming through the windows. Acutely aware of something tickling at your collar bones, you turned your head to view Seonghwa’s head buried in your neck. You had fallen asleep on the couch. His body was pressed upon yours, one of his arms draped over your waist while his other hand held yours tightly, as if he was afraid you would leave him. Letting out a sigh, you leaned forward to press gentle kisses along his forehead. He stirred a little at the feeling, snuggling deeper into your embrace. Grateful that you had the day off, you decided that a little more sleep couldn’t hurt.

The next time you awoke, Seonghwa was gone. Opening your eyes wider, you looked around for him. Only once you located him were you able to breathe easily. He stood at the window, hands clasped behind his back. Standing from your place on the couch, you carefully approached him, admiring how the sun’s rays illuminated his features.

“Seonghwa.” You called to him softly, catching his attention. Reaching for your hand, he gave you a sad smile. The pair of you stood in silence, gazing upon the awakening city. You felt his uncertainty, his fear of the future. Pulling him closer, you wrapped your arms around him in a comforting embrace. Closing his eyes, he sighed and leaned down to rest his forehead against yours. You stood there for a while, feeling his beaten heart pulse against your skin.

The next two days were especially hard. Seonghwa was uncharacteristically down, the remembrance of his past taking a toll on his mood. You tried your hardest to get him out of his slump, even offering to help him clean. Even if nothing helped, you would always be there for him, a shoulder to cry on when the world felt like it was caving in. He told you once that he had never felt so at peace than when he was with you, all his worries slowly slipping away. It would take some time to heal, like every loss does, but having you with him made it feel a little easier. Although, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of guilt. You had given him so much and what had he done for you in return? Ever since he had shown up, he’d flipped your whole life around. The added expenses of keeping him here must be taking a toll on you. When he showed up he asked for two weeks, which were quickly coming to a close. Although it would be hard, he knew he should leave.

That night, the power went out again. Another storm thundered outside of your apartment, knocking over a telephone pole. No power meant no heat, and you could see Seonghwa trembling under his single blanket on the couch. Cautiously, you spoke up. “S-Seonghwa. You can join me. If you want.” You told yourself that you’d offered a spot under your covers because he was cold. But maybe it meant more than that. Memories of the night you spent on the couch constantly flooded your brain, the feeling of his arms around you felt even better than you imagined it would be. You would be lying if you said you didn’t want him to hold you again.

Oh so slowly, Seonghwa stood from the couch and cautiously made his way over to you. Standing over the bed, he looked at you with a nervous expression. “Are you sure?” Although he had slept with you before, doing so in your bed felt so...intimate.

Nodding your head and giving him a shy smile, you scooted over and patted the mattress as an invitation. Carefully, he peeled back the covers and slipped beneath them. He had the overwhelming urge to reach out and pull you to him, to hold you so tight that there was no space between you. The idea of brushing your hair from your face and whispering sweet nothings in your ear sent his heart racing. But he held himself back. Leaving would be much harder the closer he got to you. Laying on his back, he stared at the ceiling, listening to your breathing. He could tell that you weren’t asleep quite yet, and when your hand reached out to grasp his own, he couldn’t take it anymore. Turning to face you, he wrapped his arms around your middle and pulled your body flush against his. Burying his face in the crook of your neck, he breathed in your now familiar scent.. He felt your fingers rub across his back gently, sending sparks of electricity down his spine. His lips trailed the expanse of your collar bones, each kiss confirming his adoration for you. Your fingers stuttered along his back when you felt his teeth reach to nip at your earlobe fondly. “Thank you for everything,” he whispered. It was a little hard to process the words when his fingers were running along your arms. His mere presence was intoxicating, sending your head spinning in ways you thought were impossible. When he dipped his head to give your neck some attention, you tangled your legs with his and slid your hands up his chest to wind your arms around his neck. Pulling back, he gazed into your eyes with a loving expression, studying every detail of your sparkling irises. “Seonghwa,” you whispered. Gosh, he loved the way you said his name. When you whispered to him again your voice was quiet, but it sent his heart into overdrive. “I think I love you.” Watching him nervously, you searched for any sign that he didn’t feel the same. His response was to crash his lips onto yours, eliciting a gasp from your pretty pink lips which he greedily swallowed with his own. Your words echoed in his head, driving him to press his lips to yours over and over again, making up for every time he’d wanted to kiss you yet refrained. He could swear his heart almost melted when he felt your fingers tug at his platinum locks, applying the perfect amount of pressure. “You’re so gorgeous,” He mumbled on your swollen lips, dipping his head to share a final tender kiss. Once the passion induced haze cleared from his eyes, he noticed how red and puffy your lips had become. Feeling a sudden surge of pride at being the cause of this, he swiped his thumb along your bottom lip and laughed gently. Looking into your eyes, he was captured by the intensity of your gaze. Becoming shy, he hid his face in your neck once again. He knew he should go soon, and continuing this would only bring you more pain. But how could this be so wrong when holding you in his arms felt so right?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three days later, you decided to take him around the town again.

Stepping from the apartment, you felt his hand reach over to intertwine with yours. You felt a surge of emotion flood you, completely enraptured by this gorgeous man. His fingers were long and slim, completely enveloping your own in his warmth. Turning his head, he gave you a soft smile. You blushed at his sweet gesture and quickly looked away, missing the way his smile turned into a smirk. When you were with him time seemed to slow down. All your worries and fears slipped away in his presence, calming you like nothing else. Looking at the sky, you silently blessed whatever force brought Seonghwa into your life, for whom you were eternally grateful.

Everything about him could truly be described as princely. The way he held himself was so elegant, you had once wondered if you were even good enough for him. Those fears plagued you often, dragging you down until he assured you that if anything, you were too good for him.

You walked around the city, content with each others presence. Stopping at an ice cream shop, you picked up a portion of the sweet treat for the pair of you. A small trek led you to the pier where you shared the desert. Reaching up, you moved a spoonful of ice cream into his open mouth. You couldn't look him in the eyes for too long, his gaze far too heavy for your heart to take. Moving your eyes to the water, you ate a spoonful of ice cream, deep in thought. Seonghwa felt distant lately. When he spoke to you he rarely made eye contact and when he did his eyes were sad. Adding to that, he had been particularly quiet this morning. You couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong.

Your thoughts were abruptly interrupted by two fingers tilting your chin towards him. Before you could ask why, Seonghwa leaned down and captured your lips in a sweet kiss. You barely had time to trail your hands through his hair before he pulled away and gave you a sheepish smile.

"You had ice cream on your lips."

Although it wasn't deep, there was a sense of urgency to the kiss. Something was definitely wrong.

"Seongie. What's wrong?" Cupping his face, you forced him to look at you. He avoided your eyes as best as he could, trying to make a decision. Letting out a sigh, he finally met your gaze.

"I've been thinking." You waited for him to continue. "About leaving."

"What?" He couldn't possibly be serious. Not when things were going so well. "Why?" You couldn't stop your voice from shaking.

His eyes softened upon hearing the emotion behind your question. "It's time for me to go. I've burdened you enough already. You deserve so much better y/n. Not someone marked as a traitor." Looking up to your face, he paused when he saw a tear trailing down your cheek. Bringing his hands to your face, he wiped your cheek, aching internally for the pain he would have to put you through.

"No. You can't." You knew this was coming, but you didn’t want to accept the reality of his words. Thinking about your life without him left an ache in your chest. "Please don't." Tears fell from your eyes and dripped to the pavement like rain in the spring. He wiped away every tear, eventually pulling you forward to bury your head in his chest.

"If they found you with me, I couldn't bear the terrible things they'd do to you." He had informed you of the cruelty his people were known for. Although his punishment of banishment felt bad enough, those he once held so dear would not hesitate to harm a man who had supposedly betrayed his country. If it was discovered that you were housing him, you would be targeted as well.

Running his hands over your back in a soothing manner, he shed tears of his own, hating the decision he'd been forced to make.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night Seonghwa slept in your bed again. Although you felt his breathing steady and his body grow heavy, you could hardly calm your brain. He was leaving in the morning. Nothing would be the same once he walked out that door. His presence was like a heavy blanket, something that takes getting used to, but its absence felt so deeply. Twisting in his arms, you took a moment to trace his features one last time. Once the morning came your vision would be too blurry to take it all in. Brushing his hair back, you traced the smooth line of his eyebrows, trailing to slide along his delicate nose. With one final look around his face, your eyes came to settle upon his lips. The lips that told you things that words couldn’t possibly express when they met yours. Lips that poured out praises when he thought you looked particularly good. Your own lips moved forward to brush over his cheek and press a sweet kiss to the soft skin one last time.

When the morning came you ate a quick breakfast and helped him pack up the last of his stuff. As you moved to lay a sweater in the bag he was taking, a tear fell to land on the soft fabric. You didn’t even know you were crying. Seonghwa noticed and wiped away the tear streaks on your face. When he gave you a small smile, the dam broke and the tears came flooding back once again. You remembered your hatred for endings. It seemed like the world was playing a dirty trick on you, handing you the hardest ending of them all. He pulled you into his arms and held you tight, taking in the feeling of you in his arms for one last time. It would be hard, but he knew it would be better for you in the end. He couldn’t put you in danger because of his selfish desires any longer.

Pressing a farewell kiss to your forehead, he said the words you had longed to hear from him all along, “I love you.” Turning to open the door, he grabbed his small bag and walked out of your arms, and your life for what could be forever.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two weeks had passed since you last saw him. Although you hadn’t known him for long, that didn’t stop you from missing him deeply. You had spent every free minute you’d had with him. His absence would take some time to recover from.

You spent that night on the couch, falling asleep after watching some mindless show to get your mind off of things. When a knock sounded at your door early the next morning, you were jostled into consciousness. Opening the door, you gasped in shock. There he was. The man you had tried so hard to get out of your mind.

“Seonghwa.” you whispered, overjoyed to finally be in his presence again.

“I can’t do this y/n. Every thought that runs through my head begins and ends with you. I know it's selfish of me. So damn selfish. But please tell me you’ll take me back again.”

Did you even have to think about it? “Of course. This place is just as much yours as it is mine.” Pulling him into the comfort of your apartment, you barely had time to shut the door before he pressed your back to the door and captured your mouth in a heated kiss. His lips crashed onto yours continuously, beginning to pay you back for all the days you spent without them on yours. “I love you so much,” he whispered against your lips, wrapping his arms around your waist and cradling you as close to him as possible. His kisses turned gentle, dripping with emotions you had never felt before. As you ran your fingers through his faded blonde locks, he pulled back to look into your eyes. “A prince should never leave his princess,” His forehead met yours as he spoke. “I never expected to you to open the door that night. You took me in when I had nothing. I’m so grateful for that night. It gave me you.”

Everything would be okay now. Seonghwa was back in your life, right where he belonged. It looked like this wasn’t an ending after all, but a new beginning. One you were extremely grateful for.

"Oh how I've missed you, my prince."

423 notes · View notes

d20owlbear-deactivated · 5 years ago

Text

The Mathematical Improbability of Reaching the Stars Ch 2

By cassieoh and D20Owlbear

Ch Summary And finally, the twain shall meet. We learn more of Crowley and Aziraphale and something more of Eve and Doctor Haistwell.

The walk across campus was a pleasant one when he wasn’t rushing to avoid being late or hauling far too many books or dodging undergraduates. He paused to adjust his satchel, hiking the aging leather strap higher on his shoulder; it liked to slip down as he walked, especially when he was distracted by something (as he often was). He patted the side of the bag, checking that everything he expected to feel was there and then started up the short flight of stairs that lead towards the courtyard in front of the Athenaeum, pulling out his phone as he went.

He clicked the little button on the side to check the time, suddenly nervous that he’d forgotten something and was actually terribly late to an appointment. It was an old fear, one he struggled with often, but not one he needed to worry about just now as he had nearly a full half-hour before his next lecture.

Just as he moved to slip the phone in his pocket there was a little flash of bright green. He paused, turning the phone so he could see the screen. The little, flashing LED light lit up again, indicating he had a notification. Paranoid about disturbing a class or drawing attention to himself, he usually kept his phone on silent at all times (and triple checked it hadn’t somehow changed status spontaneously), so the light was all he used to mark that he ought to pay attention. The thing was Aziraphale rarely got notifications; his most-used programs were offline games like sudoku or word puzzles and reading apps (though he still greatly preferred the feel of something old and real in his hands). Really, the only ones that deviated from that were the food delivery apps (for when he was too busy to go out to eat, of course). He also rarely got messages at all, so it took him a few moments to place why the light might be green instead of blue as usual.

“Oh,” Aziraphale murmured to himself, surprised at the very notion of being messaged on his phone, “Oh!” He exclaimed half a second later and pulled the phone up close to his face, scrambling to turn on the screen again without dropping it as the phone had nearly jumped from his hands when he remembered he’d sent a reply to the silly astronomy pun from 2am! His tutor!

[Anthony Thursday 2:13 am] Your eyes are like black holes, I can’t seem to escape them. But that’s alright, because I like astronomy.

[Azira Thursday 7:56 am] Oh very good! I’m looking for help with astronomy!

[Anthony Thursday 9:28 am] I’m always happy to lend a *helping hand*, if you know what I mean. ;)

Aziraphale grinned at the last message, now certain that he hadn’t been overconfident when he told Doctor Haistwell that he’d found a tutor. This Anthony fellow certainly seemed like he was chuffed about it. Sure, he’d used asterisks incorrectly and Aziraphale wasn’t sure what he’d been trying to accomplish with them in the first place, but that was alright, Aziraphale wasn’t in need of grammar or sentence structure help. In fact, he’d always rather excelled at that portion of his studies.

[Azira Thursday 10:01 am] Then should we set up a meeting? Maybe coffee? Just to see if we mesh well.

He pocketed his phone with that and hummed a slow tune with Latin lyrics he’d always liked from the days he participated in choirs as an extracurricular, making his way across the small lawn. By the time he reached the doors he was certain he would be receiving another message soon, would meet his tutor tonight, understand astronomy by tomorrow, and there would be nothing at all for Doctor Avgerinós to complain about.

All he had to do was be normal for the time it took to drink one coffee and all his problems would be solved.

He grinned.

The little shed at the back of the garden center wasn’t especially comfortable, though Crowley had plans to change all that. He had big dreams of using his first paycheck (a real, honest to fuck, paycheck that was all his, that he could use to buy food and fill the aching cavern of his belly without standing in the long lines at the local soup kitchen) to buy a blanket that was soft and warm and a little area rug because his toes got so cold in the mornings. He wanted to find lights that he could hang around to make it bright and cozy and maybe a walkman to play the tapes he’d shoved in the bottom of his ratty backpack before– well, before.

But, those were all plans for another day. Right now, he could just see the early dawn light peeking over the buildings through the thick windows on the eastern wall of the shed. He needed to be dressed and in the main building by sunrise. The idea had been easier to contemplate yesterday, when the old lady first proposed it. But then again, yesterday he’d been hungry and more than a little afraid and before Crowley knew it he’d been bundled up and presented with a large sandwich and a glass of milk and, most alarmingly, a job and a home.

The shafts of light shifted, arcing further across the corrugated metal wall, dipping and curving in ways he thought he might grow to love. He needed to get up. He stuck a hand out of the meagre warmth the sheet provided and shivered as chilled air rushed in.

It was just... The little futon was so much more comfortable than the hard-packed earth.

He allowed himself another thirty-count of comfort before throwing off the thin sheet and surging to his feet, throwing himself into the discomfort as quickly as he could.

An extended groan tore its way from his throat as he stretched his arms above his head and arched his back, listening as his spine cracked and popped. Then he twisted around, angling his hips to try and shake the ache from them.

After another few minutes spent greeting the day (which included brushing his teeth and oh how he’d forgotten what a pleasure that was), he emerged from the shed and made his way quickly across the garden center towards the small building at the front. Being that it was located in the middle of London proper, Eve’s Eden was compact, with only two true greenhouses and a small outdoor stand of fruit trees. At the center of the outdoor space was a large pear tree, currently laden down with fruit. He realized just after passing it that he didn’t have to refrain any longer and doubled back to pick three pears, immediately biting into the first and holding it between his teeth as he shoved the other two in the overwrought pockets of the trousers he’d been obliged to borrow from the shelter last week after his last pair had finally fallen to little more than threads.

That was another thing he was going to buy, he thought, trousers. Trousers that fit him and didn’t feel like he was wearing a tent. He never felt quite like himself when his legs weren’t free to move and bulky, cargo monstrosities made his skin itch and his hands dance and his chest feel tighter than he thought clothing probably should do and so he was going to buy a good pair and if that meant the blanket and the area rug had to wait then that was alright.

Crowley frowned to himself as he mentally calculated what would cost what and adding it up in his head, no matter how he spun it, food would be the most important - he could buy a water bottle to keep filling up and a couple of gallons of water on the side for cooking would be cheap as well. Hell, he could probably use water from the hose if it came to that. A blanket would be good and likely doable if he went second-hand shopping instead of buying new, and if he couldn’t get a proper rug that way then he would at least be able to splurge on some of those mass-produced packs of socks from Tesco when he went for cheap groceries. A thought interrupted his happy musings of warm toes, stopping him in his tracks.

Eve– Eve might not mind if customers couldn’t necessarily tell–if he got a sufficiently baggy sweater from somewhere and grew out his hair a little more–he could wear a skirt. They wouldn’t be as cumbersome as the damned cargos he wore currently or grate on his skin. Long skirts would probably be just as comfortable as the tight jeans he preferred. Cooler too, he thought, the greenhouses were comfortable now, but he knew they would be unbearable in the summer. A breeze on his legs would be a welcome change.

He realized that he’d been dithering outside the main building for quite some time and took a deep breath to calm himself.

Eve wasn’t going to throw him out, he thought. She’d seemed tough, but not cruel, not someone who would give him hope that he might have any sort of future at all only to snatch it away.

She wasn’t like that, wasn’t like-

She was different. He just knew it.

So, he straightened the hem of his threadbare t-shirt, quickly giving up on seeming any more presentable than he had yesterday in it, and strode in as if he were the picture of confidence. Eve raised an eyebrow at him from behind her cuppa, slow and still a little sleepy from the morning haze that settles down habitually over cool London mornings.

“Mornin’.” Crowley sketched a sheepish wave, unsure exactly where he was supposed to fit here (other than beneath the Ailanthus tree where Eve had found him sleeping last night). Nothing else seemed like it would know what to do with a Crowley-shaped person next to it, none of the other rows of plants and flowers looked like they could handle his bumbling hands sitting next to their pristine plots. He didn’t know what to–

Crowley was shocked out of his inward spiral by Eve’s hand on his bicep, squeezing just tightly enough to be reassuring instead of scolding. She smiled at him like someone might smile at a dog on the side of the road, bleeding from where it was hit and left for dead. Crowley grimaced in his head, the metaphor was more apt than he’d wanted to admit.

“You know what weeds look like?” Eve asked him, all her pretenses of grumpiness up front at full force, though to Crowley it felt like a welcome, somehow.

“Y-yeah, of course I know what weeds look like!” Crowley stuttered, what little pride she’d let him scrounge up the night before when he’d gathered up his bag and stood to leave when she’d found him curled up behind the roots of the tree furthest from the door was coated his tongue like lead. Heavy and tripping. It dripped down the back of his throat and the molten, toxic metal burnt on its way down, churning his stomach until he was nauseous and coated his heart so that it felt like bands wrapped around it and every beat and every breath pressed uncomfortably tight.

Ping!

Crowley’s phone chimed and he sucked in a surprised breath, tearing himself from his uncomfortable recollections on how he came to be here, nearly a decade ago. It would be nine-and-a-half years soon. And almost ten years exactly from when he’d been kicked out in the first place as a teen.

Crowley blinked at his messages unseeing, lost in his thoughts of Eve and her garden center. And then he blinked some more after he set the phone down, dazed with a stupid grin threatening to overtake his face. How bold! And not in a disgusting way like some people were on dating apps. “To see if we mesh well, ” Crowley’s grin ticked up a bit further at the thought. Posh and poncy, but not in a holier-and-richer-than-thou way, and he could already tell he’d like this Azira guy. Quickly he typed out another reply.

[Anthony Thursday 12:05 pm] I’m certainly interested in meshing with you.

[[Full Chapter]]

#AO3 link #good omens #azcrow #gomens #The Mathematical Improbability of Reaching the Stars #Tinderfic #Tinder fic #My writing #help i'm lost in good omens and can't get out #good omens fanfic #good omens fic #crowley #Crowley and Aziraphale #aziraphale/crowley #crowley good omens #Aziraphale #Find On AO3 #Read in Full on AO3

2 notes · View notes

secretly-a-plant · 5 years ago

Text

PRB 2019 15-1

Here is my contribution to the @phandomreversebang 2019! I had a lot of fun writing this fic and I would like to thank @loyal-phan and @sublimehowlter for being an amazing artist and beta!

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19930063

The first thing that I register after hitting the damp pavement is that someone is frantically apologizing to me. When I open my eyes I see a tall dark-haired, blue-eyed man offering me a hand. I take it. His hands are smooth and warm, and I realize that I might have been holding on a second longer than acceptable.

“Oh god, I am so sorry!” I’m startled out of my embarrassment by another wave of hurried apologies.

“I was just walking Simon,” at that, I look down to a very adorable corgi sitting obediently at the man's feet “and I wasn’t paying attention and next thing I know-” “Can I pet your dog?”

“Can you-? Um, yeah. Sure”

I bend down and start scratching the dog, evidently named Simon, behind his ears.

“What a good boy you are! What a sweet boy.” I hear the man laughing and quickly stand up my cheeks bright red.

“Sorry,” I mumble

“No, it’s alright! I act the same way whenever I see a dog. I should be the one apologizing, your clothes are all wet now.”

“It’s alright, I was on my way home from work anyway.”

“Are you sure? I feel terrible about it.”

‘No really it’s fine, uh,” I break off not sure what his name is.

“Phil.” He supplies with a smile.

“It’s alright Phil.”

“Well, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure. It was nice running into you, Phil.”

“Yeah, nice seeing you.”

---

By the time I get home my legs are starting to chafe from the wet denim. It’s alright though, the cute dog more than made up for it. It’s a good thing it happened on my way home from work, however. It would have been hell waiting tables all day with wet jeans. And as kind as my boss is, she never goes easy on us. Especially on Sundays, which just so happens to be our busiest day.

After a delicious yet slightly pathetic dinner of cold pizza, thoughts of Phil and his dog invade my brain. Out of curiosity I pull out my phone and type Phil into the Instagram search bar. Of course, millions of results pop up. I didn’t have high hopes, but there was a small part of me holding on to the hope that I might be able to find his account using only his first name.

After my fruitless Instagram search, I find myself drifting towards my bed, despite it only being around 9:45. Oh well, long day I guess. Surprisingly, since it normally takes me ages to fall asleep, I find my eyes drifting shut the minute I hit the mattress.

---

I wake up early, for once, which means I actually have time to enjoy my morning rather than throwing on yesterday’s clothes and quite literally running out the door. I take my time getting out of bed, stopping to look at my phone and take time to wake up. When I finally reach my small kitchen (which didn’t take very long considering how small my flat is) I realize that I have no coffee. I let out a disgruntled sigh as I come to terms with the fact that if I want caffeine, which I do, that I’ll have to head to work early putting my lazy morning to a halt. I grab my keys and head out.

I take my time walking to work, choosing to take the scenic route. Rather than the normal path I take, which has a superb view of trash cans and shady alleyways, today's route is lined with shops and restaurants and a Starbucks. The prospect of going and getting a latte of some sort seems much more appealing than getting a black coffee in a chipped mug. The minute I walk in I’m hit with a wave of warm air. A pleasant contrast to the icy weather outside. I start to head up to the counter, but I stop in my tracks when I come face to face with a pair of familiar blue eyes.

“Dan!” Phil says with a smile on his face. “What a coincidence!”

I find a smile growing on my face, what can I say? Something about his unwavering happiness is infectious.

“Oh, hi Phil!”

“Can I get you a coffee? I mean obviously, I’m assuming that's why you're here.”

“Uh-” I don’t come here very often, and the combination of my awkwardness in social situations and my lack of familiarity with the menu has me tripping over my words. “Surprise me? Just something with caffeine please.”

“You got it,” Phil responds with a chuckle. I start to pull out my wallet but he cuts me off. “Don’t worry about it, this one’s on the house.”

“It’s fine Phil, really.”

“No seriously, it’s the least I can do after running you over yesterday.”

“Well if you insist. I’ve never been one to turn down free coffee.” I say with a small laugh.

Phil smiles, before motioning over at the station. “Well if that’s all, I’m just going to go make your coffee.” He awkwardly gestures before walking away. I pull out my phone, scrolling through my Instagram feed while I wait for my coffee. After a few minutes, I see Phil walking back over with a cup in his hand. He hands it to me and looks up expectantly, waiting for me to take a sip.

“Jesus Phil, this is incredible! What is this?” He laughs

“Caramel Macchiato. My personal favorite.”

“Well if your choice in drinks is always this good you're going to have to surprise me again next time.” My phone buzzes with an alarm reminding me that I have obligations.

“Oh shit, I have to go, hopefully, I’ll run into you again soon.”

“Yeah, see you soon.”

It’s not until I’m almost at work that I notice a phone number messily scrawled onto the side of my cup.

---

I spend the majority of my break writing and deleting texts to Phil. He’s cute, there's no denying that, and he gave me his number, but it was probably just a friendly gesture. He seems like the type of person who makes friends with everyone. After many texts that I decide are either cringy, boring, or a combination of the two I settled on a simple but reliable ‘Hi its dan :)” and force myself to press send. I spend the last few minutes of my break opening and closing my phone and jumping every time my phone dings. In order to keep the anxiety at bay, I keep reminding myself that he’s at work; it makes sense if he doesn’t respond. Just because I’m on my break doesn’t mean he’s on his. Eventually, I have to go back to work, leaving my phone and a supposedly unread text in the pocket of my jacket.

All throughout the rest of my shift, my walk home, and while making and eating dinner, I try and fail, to forget about my text to Phil. Finally, after I’ve eaten and sunk into my bed for some quality binge-watching time, my phone buzzes. As I reach over, it buzzes again. And then a third time. I laugh to myself as I open my messages to see three texts from Phil.

Hi!!! soz I took so long to reply ^-^

have a dog to make up for it

what a good boy!

Is that simon????

yes! Im surprised you remembered his name lol

hes the reason i knocked you down yesterday

well if hes the reason i really cant complain

in fact i feel blessed to have been knocked down by that angel

maybe youd want to meet him again? maybe this time without ending up on the ground lol

I hesitate what to say to that, it feels risky meeting up with Phil. Even if he seems friendly, I did only meet him yesterday. But I also don’t want to pass up the opportunity to get to know him better.

um yes?

Yay! do you want to meet up tomorrow? Im off of work

yee

starbucks?

sure, me and simon cant wait :)

We end up texting for a while after that. Originally we were just arranging a time to meet, but it slowly turned into Phil asking me about my job, which led to many other things. The more I talked to Phil the more I liked him. We had very similar interests. We had the same taste in video games, music, and even takeaway places. Not to mention talking to Phil felt easy. Social interaction isn't exactly my forte, but with Phil, the conversation flowed smoothly. It would be nice to have a friend outside of work. I love my coworkers and my boss, but it’s not really the same. Besides, the diner is more a family to me than anything. Finally, the conversation winds down, both of us beginning to fall asleep. Even though I’m no longer texting him, I can’t stop thinking about Phil as I fall asleep.

---

The next day is sunny. A welcome change from the perpetual moistness that has haunted London for the last few days. I spend most of the morning laying in bed scrolling through social media. Not the healthiest past time I’ll admit, but once I get started on the Instagram explore page it’s hard to tear myself away. Eventually, I look at the time and realize that I only have about an hour before I’m supposed to meet Phil. After five more minutes, I drag myself out of bed and towards the shower.

Several outfit changes later, Starbucks is finally within my line of vision. I check the time to see that I still have a few minutes before Phil is due to get here so I take a seat on a bench and resume my scrolling. Not long after I sit down, however, I am attacked by a bundle of saliva and tan fur, accompanied by frantic calls of “Simon down!”.

“Hello there!” I say bringing my hands up to try and protect myself from the onslaught of dog.

“I’m so sorry about him, normally he’s so well behaved, I don’t know why he always jumps on you.”

“It’s really not a problem, Phil,” I say laughing.

“Well if you insist I guess. Do you want a coffee or anything while we're here?”

“I’m fine, I don’t want to keep you and Simon waiting.”

“Oh, well if you don’t mind I thought you could stay out here with Simon and I could go in and order.”

“I mean I’m always up for hanging out with dogs, but I really can’t have you buying me another coffee.”

“Seriously Dan, it’s fine. Think of it as a gift from Simon. Besides, I have an employee discount.”

I shrug, smiling. I take Simon’s leash from Phil and sit back down.

“Oh, Dan, what do you want?” I find myself breaking into a giant grin, enough to make my dimples pop.

“Surprise me.”

---

Two sugary coffees later and more walking then I do on a normal day, Phil and I are tossing tennis balls at a dog park.

“This is one of my favourite places to go with him,” Phil says, gesturing at Simon. “It’s a nice change of pace to be outside rather than stuck on a pavement block all day.”

“Mm. What else do you like to do in your spare time?”

“Uh, well, to be honest, I don’t really go outside that much. I pretty much spend the rest of my time staying inside on the internet.”

“Me neither to be honest, I spend most of my free time participating in online Mario Kart tournaments, as sad as that seems.”

“You play Mario Kart? We should race sometime.” “Only if you want to lose, Philip.”

“Oh really? Pretty confident for never having seen me play.”

“While I guess we’ll have to change that.”

“It’s a date. Well I mean, not a date date, unless you wanted to. But I mean, I don’t want to presume-”

“Phil, Phil, don’t worry, a date sounds nice. Although, to be honest, I’ve never been asked on a Mario Kart date before. But it does sound much more my style than a fancy dinner. “

“Me too, I’m not much of an extrovert. Oh shit, it’s getting dark. I should probably head home, but I’ll text you yeah?”

“Yeah sounds great. And Phil?”

“Yeah?” “I definitely prefer your company to video games.”

---

It takes a couple of weeks to find a date that works for both of us, first because of work, and then Phil got sick, and then I got sick. But, on the bright side, we spend almost all of that time texting and face timing, and occasionally I run into him at Starbucks when I’m grabbing a coffee. Unfortunately, my minimum wage and tips don’t cover daily overpriced coffee, even if it means I get to see a very nice, attractive, person.

On the bright side, we did eventually find a time. That time happens to be tonight, and to say I’m nervous would be an understatement. I end up spending about 45 minutes sorting through every article of clothing that I own before finally settling on jeans and a jumper, an outfit that is safe but far from extraordinary. After getting dressed I spend longer than necessary trying to get my hair to cooperate. Eventually, I just give up and call a cab. One extremely awkward cab ride later and I’m standing outside Phil’s door. I take a deep breath and raise my hand but before I get a chance to knock the door swings open.

“Dan! Hi! Come in, I’m sorry about the mess, I tried to clean but it's still pretty untidy.” I look down at my feet to see Simon wagging his tail excitedly. “It’s alright, my apartment is probably twice as bad.” As I walk into Phil’s flat and take my shoes off I notice that every surface is covered in something. The bookshelves are covered in plushies and figurines, the windowsills are adorned with plants in a questionable state of health, and the couch has a colourful blue and green quilt draped over the back. All in all, it just looks very Phil.

“If you want you can have a seat on the couch and I can order a pizza. What type do you like?” I’m startled out of my thoughts by Phil’s voice. I smile, feeling more content with my life then I have in a long time.

“Surprise me.”

~10 years later~

“The last ten years haven’t been easy. There’s been ups and downs, fortunately mostly ups. But you have been by my side for all of it. People and places have changed but you have remained a constant. I don’t know what life will bring, but I know I want you to be with me. I want to fall asleep next to you every night and wake up next to you every morning. So, Phil Lester, will you marry me?”

#prb19 #prb2019 #phanfiction #phandom #daniel howell #phil lester #Dan and Phil #phan

5 notes · View notes

loverdrew · 6 years ago

Text

The College Boy | Noah Centineo Imagine

It’s finally here.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Standing wide mouthed at the front of the field, I eyed Noah. I was in full shock and disbelief. I crossed my arms over my body, as we stood awkwardly. Noah’s hand came up to scratch the back of his neck as he usually does. It was a mesmerizing little quirk he did, but he couldn’t be doing this now. He blatantly kissed me, his own action, by his own doing. He can’t just back down now.

“W-What...why Noah? Why haven’t you told me this before? Why wait 4 fucking years, while being with someone else? I-It just doesn’t make sense.”

“So you don’t believe me? After everything I just told you and how I kissed you?” His eyebrows scrunched together, his voice raising a few octaves in tone.

“No I don’t. I’m sorry Noah...”

“What can I do to prove it to you?”

I stood there, dumbfounded. I honestly didn’t know what Noah could do to prove he meant what he said and what he did. As my silence kept going, more and more people were starting to show up for the game. Noah huffed and rolled his eyes.

“Please Y/N, help me figure this out.”

“Well I don’t know! This has never happened to me before, no guy has ever even looked at me for more than 3 seconds let alone confesses his feelings that he’s had for me for years!”

“W-W-Whoa whoa hey, calm down I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m getting all worked up.” He grabbed my hand, softly rubbing over my knuckles and bringing his face close enough to mine that I could see the stadium lights illuminating his hazel eyes. I never realized how beautiful they really were. The swirls of color, how they glisten, so full of emotion.

“I’ll prove it starting tomorrow. I’ll see you at the coffee shop in the morning beautiful.” and with that, he winked and slyly made his way to the side of the field getting ready to start the play. I slowly walked up to the gate in a daze, wondering and wandering. What feeling was I experiencing? My hands were shaking, my rings were ringing, everything around me seemed to be in slow motion and the only person in my view was Noah. It was almost like a permanent vignette was surrounding him.

“Wow wow wow, Y/N at a school event? I’m surprised.” I heard the too-high-too-peppy voice come from the other side of me from where I was looking. I rolled my eyes before cranking my neck to see the last person I’d want to see.

“Looking for something? Or should I say someone?” Victoria sneered at me.

“Not at all Victoria. Shouldn’t you be practicing your leg kicks or whatever you call them?” As shy as I am to others, Victoria was never someone I was scared of. If I ever showed her any sort of weakness, she would roll over me with no problem, and one thing I was always taught, especially before leaving for college a few hours away from home, was to never let anyone take advantage of me. And I will see that through.

“Shouldn’t you be cooped up studying for a test you have tomorrow?”

“I don’t need to study to get an A, or pay anyone to do it for me.”

“Hey don’t pull that one on me that was a one time thing in senior year!” She got close to my face still on the other side of the gate. Of course I didn’t back down though, I continued staring straight through her. As she was about to make another remark about me the game was starting. “I’ll make you remember what it feels like to live in my school.”

“I’m so scared.” And I once again rolled my eyes before walking off the field, but not without turning back to see Noah, already staring at me with a slight smile on his face. I smiled back and continued to walk back toward my apartment. I’ll definitely be seeing Noah in the morning.

6:30 am.

Freezing cold, bundled in a scarf up to my mouth and beanie covering my ears, I walked into the school’s coffee shop. I instantly pulled my scarf down sighing with relief. My eyes scanned the shop for that familiar boy with brown moppy hair, and once I found him, engrained in a book, I began slowly walking up to him. Upon getting closer to his table, I saw not only one, but two cups of coffee on the table with a nice surprise of a coffee cake also present. His head rose from his book, smiling brightly, offering the seat across from him to me.

“So you really did decide to meet me here.”

“I just wanted to see if the Noah would stick to his word.” I snagged my coffee and took a small sip of the still piping hot liquid, and pulled the coffee cake toward my side to take a piece.

“Girl c’mon, I always keep my word.” I giggled at his playfulness.

“So is this it then? Buying me my regular before my 8 am?”

“Uh...” he seemed nervous. His hand reached into his backpack side pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, folded into a weird octagon shape. With a hand slightly shaking, he reached over and handed me the note. “I wrote you something. I thought I’d write you little notes everyday since you’ve always liked those cheesy romcoms that do that. I just assumed what you saw in those movies, was what you wanted in real life.”

I took the note and held it in my hand tightly. I was almost scared to read what was bound to be inside. I nodded my head at him, thanking him for the note and put it aside in my book bag.

“You’re not going to read it right now?”

“N-no...it’s okay, I’ll read it on my own time.”

“You’ll like what you read.” He stood up towering over me, throwing on his jean jacket and hoisting his backpack over his shoulder. “C’mon, your class is all the way across campus and it’s 7 am let’s get a move on it.” I shook my head slightly laughing, getting ready to brace the cold once again.

I finally had time in between classes to read the note Noah slipped me. I was sitting on a bench under a tree mixed with orange and yellow leaves next to the building I had class in, and I inhaled finally opening the piece of paper.

Dear Y/N,

You say you’ve never experienced this kind of thing, that what’s happening between us doesn’t ‘work out’ for you. Well, now it’s my mission to make sure it does. After your last class, there will be a package by your door. It’s a little something that is as ‘sweet’ as you. Enjoy it, you deserve it beautiful.

Yours, Noah.

The corners of my lips curled in a small smile without even thinking about it. Instantly the cold wasn’t an issue, as my heart warmed my body making my cheeks flush. I continued to swoon over the little words he wrote, but how they still meant so much. At this moment I only wanted to skip this hour lecture and rush to my apartment to see what was awaiting me, and only hoping no one would steal it.

Finally after a quick 15 minute walk back to my apartment, I scurried to my front door seeing a light brown box propped in front of it. With a little bow on top and of course, another note handwritten by the man himself.

I squealed quietly, and practically bombed down my door setting the package on my dining table.

Dear Y/N,

I know you needed this sweet treat during this stressful time, what with all of this between us and your schoolwork, you need to just relax and unwind without feeling any sort of guilt. Gorge down on these delicious donuts from your favorite dessert shop. I know it’s 35 minutes from campus, but I knew it’d make you smile.

Yours, Noah.

My heart skipped a beat upon opening the box to 6 huge white glazed donuts. I instantly picked one up and devoured it in seconds, feeling the sugar rush go through my veins. But I also couldn’t help but think about the drive Noah would’ve had to have made to get these. The donut shop is all the way across town, and the line is always out the door so just getting the donuts would’ve had to take another 20 minutes. As I licked my fingers clean of the melted glaze, my phone started to ring in my back pocket.

“You like it?” That cheeky boy’s voice rang through.

“I really appreciate it Noah. You didn’t have to though, that donut shop is across town! I’m not worth that drive.”

“When it comes to me I’d drive hours for you. Just to see that damn smile of yours that is so rare.” My only response was a smile, bigger than I probably ever have. “And I bet you are right now, so it’s worth the extra gas. Hey listen, let’s go study at the library, I know it’s your go to place and we’ve got that paper to write for English by Friday. I’ll be at your door in 2 secs.” And with that, he hung up, and I heard a knock at my door.

I opened it wide, looking at a perky Noah.

“You ready nerd?”

We began our walk to the library, laughing at some things we both said and sharing little stories here and there to pass the time and fill the awkward space. It was nice, because we weren’t focusing on the cold or how the walk seemed longer than we thought.

We eventually found a table on the third floor where I usually study, it’s two seats near the big glass windows overlooking all of campus and the beautiful colors of the fall trees surrounding us. It helped me think, and appreciate all that was around me. It gave me hope that even in the mindst of all the stress, there was some beauty to look forward too in this world. We settled in our seats and brought out our laptops to start typing this 8 page paper.

Not even 10 minutes into writing, I saw Noah making something from across the table, but I could only see his arms moving, not what he was actually making. I squinted, but then shook my head confused, going back to typing. I was too engrossed in my writing to finally hear Noah stop shifting around, and then I felt something hit my forehead. I gasped, looking straight at Noah with wide eyes as he laughed. People started to turn their heads, so I tried to hold in my own laugh as best I could, throwing the paper football back at him.

“What’s your problem! We’re suppose to be writing our paper! How far did you even get?”

“Two words.”

“Oh yeah? And what are they?”

“My name.” He said, aiming the paper football at me once again, shooting it by missing me by a few centimeters. My laugh continued, shielding my mouth with my sweater covered hand.

“Don’t cover up that smile. I told you, everything I do is worth it if I get to see that. It’s rare, and it makes me feel good knowing I’m the one that makes you shine like that.” I smiled to myself, finally moving my hand away to push a strand of hair behind my ear.

“C’mon Noah, don’t get all sappy with me now. We have 7 more pages to write.”

After a night of studying, we made it back safely to our apartments. Noah and I stood outside my door, staring at each other, both of us clearly not wanting this day to end. He grabbed my hand swiftly and pulled me into him so tight I could smell the abercrombie and fitch cologne he was wearing, and gave me a big hug, kissing the top of my head lightly.

“I know this isn’t your kind of thing, so I’ll take everything slow. Just so you’re comfortable. But I need you to know that I want to pursue you, Y/N. I want everything that comes with you. Your weird quirks, your outrageous study hours, your unhealthy obsession with donuts.” We both laughed at that last one for how insanely accurate it was. “You’re different, and different is beautiful, especially on you.” I just continued to stare at him in awe. No words could compare to his. Somehow he was always so good with words and could come up with the best things to say without even thinking about it. I didn’t know whether to believe it was because he had done this time and time again with Victoria, or if it was because he actually felt this way about me. I quickly shake the thoughts from my brain as I realize I’m zoning, and I looked down at my shoes.

“And with that, I will say goodnight Noah.”

It felt unfinished to leave him, with nothing, so instead, I pulled up my sleeve to reveal my red scrunchie, one that I used everyday to put my hair up. I never part with it because it was something my family gave to me before I left for college, so it holds deep value to me. I knew that if I gave this to Noah, I would be obligated to see him again tomorrow, instead of wondering if I would see him ever again after this. I still couldn’t fully trust in his feelings, but I could trust in him being a decent human being to give it back.

“But here’s a little something to ensure that we will see each other again tomorrow.”

He smiled down at his wrist where the red scrunchie now rested.

“Goodnight, I will definitely see you tomorrow.”

I’m so sorry this took forever, and that this wasn’t a great chapter but it’s a lee-way for what’s to come ahead! Please let me know your feedback and if you’ve like to read what I have in store! Thank you!

#noah centineo #noah centineo fanfic #noah centineo imagine #to all the boys i've loved before

119 notes · View notes

babbushka · 6 years ago

Text

3 Ways (To Say I Love You) - Ch. 1

Hello everyone, this is the re-upload of my hanukkah flip zimmerman x jewish reader hanukkah fic! Please enjoy! I lost my tag list in the purge, so if you’d like to be tagged in the future chapters of this work, or in any future works, please comment or send me a message letting me know!!

Also can be found now on AO3!

Word Count: 3000

Warnings: None!

The CSPD was busy this time of day, everyone coming back from the lunch rush and catching up on work they had put off. The phones were ringing, type writers were clacking, and conversations were overlapping outside the glass doors. Flip was seated at his usual spot at his desk, when Chief Bridges made his rounds and stopped in front of the detective’s office. He almost walked past it, but when giving a brief glance he saw Flip, who was just blowing the ink of the last form he had filled out to dry.

“Hey Zimmerman!” He called from the doorway, getting the attention of one of his finest detectives. “The missus is here.” Bridges nodded in the direction of the general police station.

“Where is she?” Flip eagerly stood up, grateful to see you, and wanting to know which part of the station you had gone to.

“Talking with the new secretary up front.” Bridges replied, taking a sip of his coffee and carrying on his way down the hall.

Ron and Jimmy both looked up and gave Flip an easy smile when he started to put all his papers away in their folders so he wouldn’t get confused when he came back.

“That woman has great timing, you need a break.” Jimmy said, taking a sip of his own coffee.

“I do not.” Flip scoffed, looking down at his wrist. Damn, he forgot that his last watch broke on the case he and Jimmy had just wrapped on. “What time is it?” He asked, looking for the clock on the wall but not finding it fast enough.

“Three twenty-two.” Ron replied, checking his own watch.

“Fuck it, I do need a break.” Flip said with a chuckle, making his friends laugh.

“Zimmerman, if you’re finished up with everything, you can head out early today.” Sergeant Trapp smiled kindly, as he too appeared in the door to the office. He must have been following Bridges, wherever the chief had gone. “I know it’s the first night of the holiday.”

“No that’s alright Sarge – ” Flip started to say, he didn’t want anyone giving him special treatment or anything like that, he could still work and –

“Flip, go home and be with your wife.” Trapp said.

It was clear that the detectives worked too hard to not have some time to relax, especially on the holidays, Trapp thought.

“Thank you sir.” Flip said with a nod, gratefully.

“I expect you here early tomorrow!” Trapp said with a chuckle as he turned around the corner.

Flip gathered his belongings and cleared off his desk for the day, looking up at his friends who were busy typing away.

“You guys are still coming over right?” He asked.

It had been Flip’s idea to throw a party, just with some close friends, to celebrate the holiday. You of course jumped at the opportunity to cook and host, ready to impress all of your friends. Flip would never admit it, but he was nervous – this was his first proper Hanukkah since he was a little kid, and he didn’t even remember those years that well. He knew you celebrated every year, but this would be the first time he helped you cook or lit the candles, or even exchanged gifts. He wanted it to be perfect, and he could think of no better way than by having you and his friends with him.

“Of course! We’ll be there at six-pm sharp.” Ron said, breaking Flip out of his little daydream.

“Patrice is coming too?” Flip asked hopefully.

You and Patrice bonded quickly after the events of the Big Case, and he and Ron liked to call it. You two got together at least once a week to hang out, and you attended meetings and rallies held by Patrice’s activist group, even cooking up food for fundraisers and dinners. The four of you had gone on double dates more times than Flip could probably count, and it made Flip happy to see you so happy.

“She’s been looking forward to this for weeks.” Ron grinned, making Flip all the happier.

“Good, (Y/N) loves her, she’ll be excited to hear that, and I’m looking forward to seeing her again.” He replied sincerely, before saying goodbye to the office and heading out to find you.

Flip couldn’t help but admire the way that you looked, standing there in the lobby of the station. You had dressed to match the holiday, a blue blouse and a white pencil skirt that hugged your curves in all the right places. You were holding your coat against your chest, and your purse was slung over your shoulder, and Flip thought you looked like something straight out of a magazine.

“…and so then he says to me, ‘you know if you’re so smart why don’t you put up the lights this year?’ So I do and guess what?” He hears Ms. Josephine, the new secretary rambling on.

“What?” You asked, interested but also saying it to make her happy.

“I had them up in fifteen minutes. Fifteen!” She replied with a loud laugh, “Men can be so bullheaded sometimes.” She shook her head.

Flip cleared his throat playfully, drawing the attention of both women.

“Yes they certainly can be.” You grinned, your eyes meeting your husband’s, “Here comes mine now.”

You reached a hand out, and Flip took his cue to come rescue you from any more conversation. He held your hand in his own and brought it to his lips to kiss the tips of your fingers, making you blush.

“Oh so you’re the lovely Mrs. Zimmerman that I keep hearing so much about?” The secretary asked you, making you nod and smile.

“Hello Ms. Josephine.” Flip greeted her, before looking into your eyes, “Yes this is my wife, (Y/N).”

“She is just charming, detective.” Ms. Josephine beamed.

“Thank you, it was a pleasure to meet you.” You responded, still very pink in the cheeks from your husbands sweetness, “But I’m afraid I have to steal my husband for just a few moments.”

Ms. Josephine just nodded with a twinkle in her eye, and you shrugged your coat on before following Flip to your car that was parked just outside.

Braving the snow, the two of you laughed as you made a careful run for it, bundling up together against the chilly leather as Flip turned the car to get it started and warmed up.

“Hi honey.” Flip said, cupping your cheeks in his gloved hands and giving you a deep kiss that had all the chill melting from your skin.

“I missed you,” You said against his hot lips, your own growing into a smile, “You look so handsome today.”

“You say that every day.” Flip chuckled, kissing you sweetly once again, the noise of your lips together making a funny noise that had you giggling.

“I mean it every day.” You replied honestly.

You two kissed for a minute or two longer, just until the engine was warm enough to drive on, and then the two of you were off, leaving the parking lot and driving down the side streets that lead to the main road.

“You can have me for the whole rest of the day if you’d like.” Flip said, remembering how you told Ms. Josephine you would only be stealing him for a minute.

“You can’t just skip out on work, detective.” You teased playfully, but Flip just shook his head with a small smile.

“I’m not, Trapp gave me the evening off, so I’m all yours.” He reached over and took your hand in his own, weaving his fingers in with yours.

“No kidding?” You asked with wide, excited eyes, “Will you come do the shopping with me?”

“Only if you let me push the cart.” Flip smirked at you, looking at you briefly before putting his eyes back on the road.

“It’s a deal.” You settled back further into the now warm cushions of his Nova and chatted about nothing with him for the remainder of the drive.

“It looks like a fucking nightmare in there.” Flip slightly paled when he pulled up to the parking lot of the grocery store you always shop at.

The store was part of a strip of stores, and there were cars everywhere, with people filling nearly every space that a vehicle didn’t occupy. They all had carts filled with bagged goods from the grocery, or had arm-fulls of retail shopping bags hung on their arms as they wove in and out of the fray to get to their own cars.

Flip turned to you, but you were surprisingly calm about it.

“Yeah, that’s pretty normal for this plaza.” You nodded, taking off your seatbelt as Flip pulled into a spot and parked the car. Flip gawked, looking at the swarm of people, and then back at you.

“Honey, you go in there all by yourself when it’s like that?” He asked, wondering how you didn’t get eaten alive.

“You’re damn right I do.” You laughed, stepping out of the car and immediately taking his hand when he joined you. “I am a force to be reckoned with.”

And what a force you were! Flip had to run to catch up with you as you darted through the aisles. He regretted asking to push the cart; you had a system that he couldn’t really understand, but he assisted in any way possible. You really loved that he was tall enough to reach the things on the really high shelves, like all the special baking powders and sugars you needed for the desserts.

Once you had what you needed from an aisle, you practically bolted, saying excuse me, and pardon me, to the people who decided to move at a glacial pace around you.

“Oh my god, babe you can’t just – (Y/N) – !” Flip exasperatedly called as you made sharp turns without any warning around aisles and near various counters. He just couldn’t maneuver the cart in nearly as fluid a manner as you probably could.

“Flip honey keep up!” You laughed, laugh faltering at the dirty look an elderly man on the other side of the potato display gave you, as you picked out a sack that would become latkes later on in the evening.

He was staring at your necklace, the very same one that Flip had given you. It was worn proudly around your neck, and you knew that the old man was about to say something, when Flip finally caught up with you. His general build must have been enough to ward the man off, and you were grateful for it, even if Flip had had no idea. You simply smiled up at your husband and placed the potatoes in the cart, looking over everything you had.

After only a few more items (and many accidental times where Flip hit the back of your ankles with the cart – which he maintains was not his fault, you just kept stopping short!), the two of you made your way to the checkout, and were soon in the car.

“I’m glad that’s over, I don’t know how you do it.” Flip sighed. He felt like he was sweating, how could he be sweating when there was snow on the ground outside?

“It’s not as hard as it looks, you just need to know where everything is.” You said with a happy laugh. You forgot that Flip only ever went to pick up one or two things in the early morning before all the shoppers were out for the day, and resolved to give him some sweet kisses as a thank you for his patience.

“Where to next lil’ lady?” Flip said with a smile, and your heart felt so full that he was so willing to brave the world of holiday shopping with you. Thankfully, you only had one other place on your list, and it was much quieter in comparison to the bustling plaza.

“We need to go to the Rothstein’s deli, it’s on the corner of Washington and eighth street, do you know the one I mean?” You looked at him adoringly.

“Is that where we get the bagels?” He asked with a frown.

“No, that’s the bakery on forty-fourth avenue.” You smiled, watching as something clicked in his brain.

“Oh wait! I think I stopped in to the deli to have a sandwich once, I know where it is.” Flip confidently said, once again taking your hand and driving away from the plaza onto the main road.

“We better hurry, I want to get back home before the milk starts to warm.” You said, turning the radio on.

There was only Christmas music playing, of course. You happily sang along to the songs and practically swooned once Flip started singing along with you. He had such a lovely voice, but he never really sang. On occasion he could be heard humming in the shower, but always stopped out of embarrassment when you poked your head in to brush your teeth or join him under the spray.

You gave his hand a happy squeeze and laughed once he started doing all sorts of voices to be silly, and the two of you were still giggling when you pulled up to the deli.

It was a small place, family owned and operated for nearly thirty years. It still had all the old machinery, in pristine condition, and you had never gotten better quality meat from anywhere else. The glass window was slightly frosted over, but you could see the blue and white lights that had been hung outside shining brightly. A menorah sat in the window, and the shamash and the first candle cast big glowing orbs against the frosted glass.

Entering the deli and stomping the snow out of your boots, you and Flip approached the counter.

“Good afternoon (Y/N)!” Mrs. Rothstein, the elderly manager of the deli greeted you with a smile, coming around the counter to give you a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She looked behind you to see Flip, who was standing happily under the heater. “Oh, and I see you brought DetectiveZimmerman along with you, it’s so good to see you again.” Mrs. Rothstein pulled Flip into a hug and a kiss as well.

“Good afternoon Mrs. Rothstein, how are you today?” Flip asked with genuine interest.

“Oy I’m exhausted and my feet are killing me not to mention my back nach a mool, but the business has been booming today – isn’t that right Howard?” She threw her hands up, before turning to her husband of forty years, Mr. Rothstein.

“You bet honey. Hello (Y/N), hello Detective, always a pleasure to see you.” He stepped up to the counter from the back, and you leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. He wiped his hands down on the white cloth apron tied around his waist, and shook Flip’s hand with a firm, friendly grip.

“You too Mr. Rothstein, I’m glad to hear the deli is doing well!” You grinned, looking at the various cuts on display under the glass of the counter.

“You’re here every week, please, call me Howard.” He said, making you smile. “What’ll it be for you today?” He asked.

“You know I have to have some of your brisket, I hope I’m not too late.” You bit your lip nervously, there weren’t any in the counter. “Flip is helping me cook tonight for the first time.” You looked to your husband and looped your arm through his, beaming up at him.

“Look at you, kvelling.” Mrs. Rothstein – Yetta, you corrected yourself, now on a first name basis with them – tutted sweetly, before going back around the counter. “We set one aside especially for you, didn’t we Howard?”

Just as she asked, her husband pulled out the biggest slab of meat Flip had ever seen.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to do that – ” You said, eyes growing wide at the size of it. “Oh my goodness, it’s huge! Thank you, how much do we owe you?”

“It’s on the house.” Howard said definitively.

“No please, I have to you something.” Flip tried to argue, surely this was their most expensive cut, or close to it, it wouldn’t be right to not give anything.

“All we ask is if you have a few extra slices of your famous babka, you send them our way.” Yetta winked, making you sigh in defeat.

“You’re too kind, really.” You were touched by their generosity and were already making plans in your head to repay them in some way.

“Chag sameach!” Howard happily said, after wrapping up the brisket in brown paper and tying it with twine.

You and Flip returned the sentiment, and made your way to the car for the final time.

“That was really nice of them.” Flip said, still stunned at the parcel in your lap.

“It was, I’m going to bake them a whole loaf.” You decided, you’d also send them some rugelach and some of your great-grandmother’s sugar cookie recipe, just as an added thanks.

“Anywhere else?” Flip asked, but you could tell he was getting tired.

“No, we can head home.” You smiled, “I decorated.”

The look on your face made him nervous, in the best way possible. You loved to decorate, and he was sure that this was no different of an occasion – maybe even more of a reason for you to go all out.

“Should I call Better Homes and Gardens?” Flip chuckled, jokingly. You swatted his arm playfully and laughed with him.

“You just might want to.” You said, knowing how crazy you had gone with the garland this year…

#reader insert #flip zimmerman x reader #flip x reader #blackkklansman #flip zimmerman #jewish!reader #hanukkah #my writing #kylo ren x reader #ben solo x reader #clyde logan x reader #3 ways to say i love you #3WTSILY

56 notes · View notes